Positive effects of early clinical exposure on medical students: a comparative study

Introduction : Early clinical exposure (ECE) has become a mainstream trend in medical education, yet its educational effectiveness remains controversial. Variations in healthcare resources and educational models across different regions also pose challenges for evaluating its outcomes and implementing localized adaptations. Materials and Methods: (1) The literature was reviewed to analyze current research hot topics and selected case studies of ECE in clinical medical education, and the results were visualized. (2) Undergraduate clinical medicine students from a university were recruited and divided into an exposure group and a control group based on whether they entered clinical clerkships early in their fourth academic year. The students’ preclinical and clinical course scores were calculated using weighted scoring, and between-group differences were compared using an unpaired t-test.A linear regression model was applied to examine the predictive relationship between preclinical course performance and clinical course performance, thereby exploring the moderating effect of ECE. Results : The weighted mean score of clinical courses in the exposure group was significantly higher than that in the control group (p < 0.001). Regression analysis indicated that ECE enhanced the efficiency of translating foundational knowledge into clinical performance (slope in the exposure group: 0.692 vs. slope in the control group: 0.578). Further analysis revealed that, within the selected sample, ECE demonstrated a positive benefit when students’ preclinical course scores exceeded approximately 72.7; below this threshold, the traditional teaching model showed greater advantages. Conclusion: Under certain conditions, ECE can improve medical students’ clinical course performance, and its effectiveness is closely associated with students’ prior knowledge base. Curriculum design should emphasize balanced integration between the preclinical and clinical phases, ensuring that students enter clinical practice with sufficient theoretical foundations in order to maximize educational outcomes. In regions with unequal resource distribution, adaptive strategies such as simulation-based teaching should be explored. Future research should expand sample sizes and conduct long-term follow-up studies to further refine the evaluation framework.