A system for assessing clerkship experience using a logbook and microcomputers

Family Medicine clerkships emphasizing ambulatory care often require multiple teaching sites. Continuous assessment of actual student clinical experiences may not occur because the task of collecting and analyzing the necessary data may be expensive and time-consuming. However, the decreasing price of microcomputers and available software has provided teaching programs with inexpensive and effective tools to perform this task. The Department of Family Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia recently developed and implemented a microcomputer based information management system for use in assessing program and student clinical experiences in a required family medicine clerkship. This system, which uses logbooks as an information source, is able to monitor and provide information which is used to insure that the student's actual clinical experiences are consistent with the goals and objectives of the clerkship.