Clinical education of the nuclear medicine undergraduate

Introduction: There has been little reported in the literature with respect to the benefits extended to student academic learning by clinical contact despite broad recognition of the role academic learning has in improving clinical learning. Methodology: A test/retest study design was employed to assess the academic performance of first year Nuclear Medicine students immediately prior to and after their first clinical placement. Results: Matched pairs of test one and test two scores for each student demonstrated a positive correlation with a correlation coefficient of 0.70. Bland-Altman analysis demonstrated a mean difference between test one and test two matched pairs (Δscore) of 9.1% (95% CI: 4.7% to 13.6%) and 97.4% of differences within the 95% limits of agreement. The paired t test demonstrated statistically significant differences between matched pairs (P = 0.0002). Conclusion: This study provides evidence that clinical learning provides the context in which students can better comprehend theory. There is significant value gained from first year clinical placements of Nuclear Medicine undergraduates to improve academic marks by fostering deeper understanding of key concepts.