The Effectiveness of the "Early Clinical Exposure" Course Based on Narrative Medicine in Cultivating the Professional Qualities of Undergraduates in Clinical Medicine: A Mixed-Methods Study

Background Global medical education frameworks (WFME, ACGME) stress integrating early clinical exposure (ECE) and humanistic cultivation, but traditional ECE (including some Chinese models) prioritizes procedural familiarity over empathy/doctor‒patient communication, failing the "bopsychosocial" model. Narrative medicine (NM) fosters empathy but is rarely integrated into undergraduate ECE. In alignment with China’s 2022 China Undergraduate Medical Education Standards, this study tests an NM-integrated "Early Clinical Practice" course for clinical undergraduates. Methods The mixed-methods study included 600 2023 Southern Medical University clinical undergraduates. A 32-hour course (8 h theory: career planning, healthcare systems, NM; 24 h practice: hospital visits, holiday practice) was implemented. The data were obtained from prescourse (520 valid) and postcourse (546 valid) surveys, clinical skill assessments, and 582 reflective reports and were analyzed via SPSS 26.0 and thematic analysis. Results Postcourse, 84.25% had higher professional enthusiasm, 82.23% had gained preliminary clinical thinking, 71.79% had enhanced humanistic awareness, and 69.23% had applied NM. Clinical skill scores were high (empathy: 85.60 ± 5.98). Over 90% of the reflective reports noted career/humanistic gains. Conclusions The NM-integrated course effectively boosts undergraduates’ professional identity, clinical thinking, and humanistic literacy. Future optimization of NM practices and holiday arrangements is needed.