Student perspectives on primary care preceptorships: enhancing the medical student preceptorship learning environment

Medical students participate in a longitudinal (3-year) primary care preceptorship to assist them in developing skills in interviewing and examining patients in an ambulatory care setting.

To identify from a student's perspective important context and process issues in a longitudinal preceptorship.

The investigators used an "editing" style of analysis to identify significant themes across 24 medical student focus groups held between October 1995 and December 1997.

Significant themes emerged from the data analysis that describe important features of what makes the preceptorship work for students. The main themes are active teaching, active learning, a trusting relationship, sufficient time, and a shared understanding of preceptorship objectives. The potential benefits to students in an enhanced learning environment are comfort, confidence, responsibility, skills, knowledge, reinforcement, learning opportunities, teaching opportunities, and models for practice.

We offer recommendations for enhancing longitudinal preceptorships for preceptors, students, and leaders in medical education.