A community continuity programme: volunteer faculty mentors and continuity learning.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Primary Care
• Clinical Skills Development

Background:

• Longitudinal generalist preceptorships in early medical education positively influence students' practice of medicine.
• Early clinical exposure is crucial for developing both the art and science of medical practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the implementation of a novel, integrated, community-based early clinical experience program.
• To assess the impact of the Community Continuity Program on preclinical medical students' development and empathy.

Main Methods:

• The Community Continuity Program involved 2 years of annual 1-week community-based experiences with volunteer primary care faculty (continuity mentors).
• Curricular components included physical diagnosis, interprofessional learning, family care experience, and research/quality improvement projects.
• Outcome measures comprised student/faculty evaluations, e-journal narratives, LCME surveys, and empathy assessments.

Main Results:

• Students reported all program elements, particularly continuity mentors and patient interactions, as beneficial.
• Faculty observed professional student-patient interactions.
• Empathy levels were preserved over 2 years, with students perceiving a positive impact on their empathy.

Conclusions:

• An integrated, longitudinal, community-based program with volunteer mentors effectively teaches preclinical students foundational medical concepts.
• This model provides patient-centered instruction in clinical, social, behavioral, ethical, and research aspects of medicine.