Objective　To investigate the effect of early involvement in clinical practice in improving comprehensive abilities of medical students and strengthening their occupational cognition. Methods　The students in the 5-year class of 2014 of pediatrics in our university were enrolled as subjects

among whom 78 students who received early involvement in clinical practice and teaching were enrolled as experimental group and 81 students who did not receive such teaching were enrolled as control group. A questionnaire survey was performed for the students participating in the teaching

including basic information

pre-training quality evaluation

development of personal knowledge and abilities

and comments or suggestions. The two groups were compared in terms of the score of the theoretical course of pediatric surgery

so as to explore whether early involvement in clinical practice could improve the theoretical study of students. Finally

the performance of students in clinical practice was evaluated and compared between the two groups to assess the role of early involvement in clinical practice in improving comprehensive abilities and occupational cognition. Results　More than 90% of the students were satisfied with early involvement in clinical practice and they thought this activity helped them to improve clinical thinking

strengthen occupational cognition

enhance learning interests

improve communication skills

and promote the combination of basic and clinical knowledge. In addition

the follow-up analysis found that compared with the control group

the experimental group had a significantly higher average score [(74.59±0.50) vs. (68.89±0.67)] and a significantly higher proportion of students with a score of >70

and no students failed. As for the score of clinical practice

the experimental group had significantly better clinical work proficiency

clinical thinking

operational ability

and doctor-patient communication ability than the control group. Conclusion　Early involvement in clinical practice among medical students can improve their comprehensive abilities and help to cultivate clinical thinking and doctor-patient communication skills and strengthen their occupational cognition

which lays a good foundation for cultivating high-quality talents through medical education.