Medical students' ethical, legal and cross-cultural experiences during their clinical studies

Many medical school curricula include training for ethical considerations, legal comprehension, implementation of patients' rights, awareness of cultural differences, and communication skills (ELCE).

To explore medical students' perceptions of their ELCE training during the clinical phase as well as the relationship between humanistic practice skills' experiences and the quality of clinical training.

A cross-sectional survey was carried out in two cohorts during their clinical year period at Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine at the end of their Internal Medicine and Surgery clerkships in the 2002 academic year. The research tool was an 18 item Likert-type questionnaire (ELCEQ), based on the literature of biomedical ethics, legal aspects and behavior of practice skills. The content validation of the questionnaire was established by consulting experts among the school's faculty. It was circulated among the students by representatives of the Unit of Medical Education.

The response rate was 88%. Students reported only a few opportunities for gaining experience in humanistic practice skills. A weak correlation was found between students' assessment of the quality of clinical training and their experiences in humanistic practice skills.

A wider and more relevant range of active experiences in humanistic practice skills should be available to students during the clerkships. Correspondingly, there is a need for the clinical faculty to find innovative ways to internalize their task as role models and ensure that students acquire and are able to practice those skills.