A first-year medical school pilot program for early clinical exposure.

A weekly out-patient elective in a medical oncology clinic was established for first- and some second-year medical students. Interviews were carried out immediately after the elective experience and two years later to evaluate the degree of success in achieving specific goals in this elective. Such clinical experience appeared to introduce the medical students to some of the major medical and psychosocial issues involved in the clinical care of patients, to be highly motivating for the students with regard to their standard concurrent basic science curriculum, and to relieve the impatience that first-year medical students have for clinical exposure. The usefulness of the elective, as perceived by the participating students, appeared to increase from the first to the second interview, that is as the students entered the clinical teaching program. The clinical setting was perceived by the students as more useful than either their increased understanding of medicine or observation of physicians as role models. The students' perception and understanding of physician-patient communication, and of the problems facing an oncology patient, appeared to be more favorably influenced than increasing confidence in the ability of the student to deal with patient interaction. Thus, a clinical oncology out-patient experience for first-year medical students appears to be sufficiently rewarding to justify the time and effort to develop such an elective.