Student learning experiences with Jamaican practitioners.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Primary Care Medicine
• Community Health

Background:

• Hurricane damage necessitated alternative clinical training placements for medical students.
• Traditional teaching facilities in primary care were unavailable.
• Community medicine clerkship requirements needed to be fulfilled.

Purpose of the Study:

• To summarize the experiences of medical students during a community medicine clerkship with general practitioners.
• To assess the impact of this alternative training model on medical student education.
• To explore the development of collaborative links between academic institutions and non-university physicians.

Main Methods:

• First-year clinical medical students were placed with general practitioners.
• Student feedback was collected to evaluate the learning experience.
• The program involved the first 39 participating students.

Main Results:

• Student feedback indicated a very high level of interest in the clerkship.
• A variety of learning experiences were reported by students.
• The attitudinal attributes of general practitioners were ranked highest among learning experiences.

Conclusions:

• The experience provided a valuable opportunity to enhance medical student training.
• This initiative fostered collaborative links with non-university physicians.
• Alternative clinical placements can be effective in medical education continuity.