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Assessment of Medical Laboratory Undergraduates Training in Different School Year Systems
Yajun Lu1, Qianfeng Xia1, Jun Yang1
1Key Laboratory of Tropical Translational Medicine, Ministry of Education, and School of Tropical Medicine and Laboratory Medicine, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China.
Objective:
To assess the effect of the change from the 5-year system of coursework to a 4-year system on the achievements of medical laboratory undergraduates.
Methods:
We analyzed and then compared the topics of training and the test scores among all subject individuals in the 5-year vs the 4-year undergraduate program.
Results:
Five-year-program undergraduates and 4-year-program undergraduates were required to complete 50 courses. The average weekly education time in the 4-year program (27.05 lesson-hours/week) was greater than that in the 5-year program (22.99 lesson-hours/week). The proportion of clinical practice in the hospital setting in the 4-year program (26.8%) was higher than that in the 5-year program (24.5%). The average, excellent, and good scores among 4-year-program undergraduates in general education courses, professional basic courses, professional courses, all courses, and common courses were lower than those scores among the 5-year-program undergraduates.
Conclusions:
The 5-year undergraduate program should be adapted to help boost the achievements and practical skills among its students, in helping them adapt quickly to the new, 4-year training plan (which presented a serious challenge in our cohort).
