Objectives and methodology of the practical lectures of Clinical Propedeutics

Abstract

Introduction: the practical lectures of Clinical Propedeutics and Medical Semiology is the main teaching activity in the subject during the 10 first weeks of the medical practice. This is aimed at achieving key objectives in the teaching-learning process as well as a vertical connection with the contents of the basic sciences, posterior clinical sciences, and horizontal connection with the subjects of diagnosis, clinical laboratory, imaging, electrocardiography and other complementary studies.
Objective: to design a methodological guideline concerning the conduction of practical lectures of Clinical Propedeutics and Medical Semiology.
Material and Method: a documentary analysis was carried out considering as basis the documents, resolutions, methodological indications and syllabuses that have guided the development of the subject during the last years.
Results: the main difficulties and obstacles to conduct its implementation were observed in the design of the practical activity in hospital wards and in the whole hospital, the current massive enrolment of students in every basic group of work marked essentially, the non-existence of normative documents in this teaching activity.
Conclusions: a proposal of a methodology was performed allowing the achievement of these objectives to improve the learning process and skills of students, as a premise to widen the development of all clinical subjects which will be approached all along the years of studies. The application of this methodology offers the possibility to standardize the work of professors in order to achieve similar results in all of the sceneries where this subject is taught.