Keywords: family medicine, medical education, student’s experience, virtual clinical experiences, virtual clinical practice, blended learning, early exposure to practice.

Background:

Medical students’ perceptions of family medicine play a key role in shaping career intentions and professional identity in primary care. In Ukraine, concerns have been raised regarding how family medicine is perceived by medical students, particularly in terms of its attractiveness and professional status compared to other specialties. Educational exposure to family medicine, including early contact with general practice and virtual clinical experiences, may shape these perceptions and warrants further exploration.

Research questions:

To examine first-year medical students’ narratives and perceptions of family medicine as a future profession before and after participation in an introductory course incorporating virtual clinical experiences.

Method:

An elective introductory family medicine course incorporating virtual clinical experiences and short rotations in family medicine practice will be offered to first-year medical students (approximately 50 participants). Students’ narratives and perceptions related to family medicine as a future profession will be explored before and after the course using focus group discussions. Data will be analyzed thematically.

Results:

The study is expected to generate qualitative insights into how students describe and frame family medicine before and after early educational exposure.

Conclusions:

This study aims to contribute to understanding how early educational experiences shape medical students’ interpretations of family medicine and may inform the design of undergraduate family medicine curricula.

Points for discussion:

How might insights from this study inform strategies to strengthen recruitment into primary care?

What are the methodological challenges of interpreting “change” in qualitative before-and-after studies, and how can they be addressed?