First year clinical tutorials: students’ learning experience

Figures & data

Figure 1 Students’ perceptions of first year clinical tutor attributes.

Figure 2 Students’ responses to questions regarding consistency of tutors.

Table 1 Best features of the clinical tutorials (n=265)

Student comment	Number of similar comments (%)
“Time spent on the wards, with opportunities to practice history and examination skills with patients”	62 (23%)
“Enthusiastic teachers”	12 (5%)
“Encouraging tutors”	10 (4%)

Table 2 Suggested improvements for clinical tutorials

Student comment	Number of similar comments (%)
“More supervised patient contact time, with opportunities for individual examination and history-taking practice. Some tutors rarely took us to see patients. The patients should have relevant conditions.”	45 (17%)
“More structured history and examination tutorials that follow the curriculum. Many of our tutors did not follow the handbook. More systematic teaching better integrated with the curriculum, standardized across clinical schools.”	36 (14%)
“Tutors should be briefed as to what is expected of them. They should know the curriculum and they should prepare for the tutorial. They should teach at the appropriate level for first year students.”	29 (11%)
“More introduction to the tutorial and practice on examination and physiology beforehand, so we can be more confident when doing it on the ward.”	22 (8%)
“More frequent feedback that is constructive. Tutors should expect more from us, and push us to learn. They should not be reserved in criticism, they should expect more and give us homework.”	18 (7%)
“Longer tutorials, more teaching hours, more clinical time.”	16 (6%)