ABSTRACT
This article reports on medical schools' longitudinal primary care ambulatory programs and five themes identified by educators as to why it is important for students to experience continuity of patient care. It briefly describes methods used to expose students to this concept, which is so basic to primary care practice.
Subject(s)
Continuity of Patient Care , Education, Medical , Students, Medical , Teaching , Ambulatory Care , Canada , Clinical Competence , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Physician-Patient Relations , Primary Health Care , Puerto Rico , Schools, Medical , Teaching/methods , United StatesABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To determine learning outcomes from the students' perspective on the clinical portion of a third-year primary care ambulatory clerkship. METHOD: Over 18 months (December 1994 to June 1996), students at the Medical College of Wisconsin identified what they had learned during the clerkship in each of seven learning settings. Responses were transcribed and a coding dictionary developed. Response frequencies were compared by logistic regression analysis over time and between rural and urban sites. Course goals set by faculty were compared to learning outcomes reported by students. RESULTS: The authors coded 3,030 student outcomes into 48 categories. The top ten learning outcomes by frequency are reported. Logistic regression analysis revealed no significant difference by time of year or by rural versus urban clerkship experiences. Twenty-six of 29 original course goals were congruent with the student-generated outcomes. CONCLUSION: Basic professional knowledge, skills, and attitudes were the learning outcomes most valued throughout the year. Being alone with patients and working with their preceptors were the students' most valued learning settings.
Subject(s)
Ambulatory Care , Attitude of Health Personnel , Clinical Clerkship , Education, Medical, Undergraduate/methods , Learning , Students, Medical/psychology , Humans , Logistic Models , Primary Health Care , Rural Health , Urban Health , WisconsinSubject(s)
Curriculum , Education, Medical, Undergraduate , Preceptorship , Primary Health Care , Teaching/methods , Ambulatory Care , Humans , Rural HealthABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Today's family medicine educator occupies a position of increasing stature in medical education. The recognition of education as scholarship creates a framework for the evaluation of clinician-educators for promotion. A system is needed to document educational excellence, peer review, and public dissemination. METHODS: The Educator's Portfolio, a 10-category system for organizing educational expertise, was developed in a family medicine department for use as a promotion document. The effectiveness of the Educator's Portfolio in documenting faculty candidates' educational activities was assessed in two ways. Members of the department rank and tenure committee were surveyed to assess their ability to evaluate faculty teaching contributions using the portfolio, and faculty promotion results were tracked for the first 2 years of portfolio use at the Medical College of Wisconsin. RESULTS: The ability to judge candidates' educational activities via a portfolio was rated to be excellent or very good by 100% of respondents, as compared with using a traditional curriculum vitae alone. Promotion results indicate successful promotion of faculty using the Educator's Portfolio. CONCLUSIONS: As a method for evaluating scholarship in education, the Educator's Portfolio is an important addition to a candidate's promotion packet.