Integrating Dermatopathology and Dermoscopy into Clinical Clerkship Improves Undergraduate Dermatology Education
FAN Wen
ZHOU Xiaoli
LU Xingxian
JIANG Ying
CHANG Hongqin
ZHANG Yu
ZHU Xiaogang
CAO Yan
Abstract：Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of a teaching model that integrates dermatopathology and dermoscopy into the clinical clerkship for undergraduate dermatology education.Methods From August 2023 to July 2024,60 fourth-year medical students completing clinical clerkship at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University were enrolled.Students were stratified by gender and randomly assigned to an intervention(observation)group(n=30)or a control group(n=30).The control group received standard clinical teaching,while the intervention group received practical,hands-on instruction combining dermatopathology and dermoscopy within the clerkship.At course completion,students completed a standardized teaching evaluation.We compared dermatology course scores and overall semester scores across compulsory course between groups.Results Students exposed to the integrated model rated the dermatopathology component higher for practical relevance,support of theoretical learning,and stimulation of continued interest;however,they reported lower self-assessed mastery of specific dermatopathology content and procedural skills.The dermoscopy component was evaluated as engaging,innovative,supportive of theory,stimulating of further study,and practical,but students reported challenges in mastering dermoscopic technique,imageinterpretation criteria,and specialized skin-imaging concepts.Compared with controls,a significantly greater proportion of students in the intervention group agreed that the teaching approach increased learning motivation,improved study efficiency,and fostered scientific thinking(P<0.05).The intervention group achieved higher dermatology course scores than the control group(P<0.05),while total semester scores across compulsory course did not differ significantly between groups(P>0.05).Conclusion The dermatopathology plus dermoscopy integrated clinical clerkship model achieved high satisfaction among undergraduates in the dermatology clerkship and helped stimulate interest in dermatology and the understanding of theoretical knowledge.
Keywords：dermatologyundergraduate medical educationdermoscopydermatopathologyclinical clerkship
Publication Date：2026-02-10
Online Publishing Date：2026-03-17(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：5( 72-76 )