A comprehensive clerkship in family medicine

A 6-week family medicine clerkship that is comprehensive in its approach to the academic base of family medicine and in its integration of clinical and didactic experiences is discussed. The goals of the clerkship are to enable students to: acquire knowledge of common illnesses in ambulatory care; integrate compassion, concern and empathy in the delivery of comprehensive and personalized care; and to experience the medical and social issues of family medicine. The curriculum includes 50 hours of didactic preparation in the family life cycle, common illnesses, patient interviewing, problem-oriented medical records, genograms . compliance, and clinical problem-solving. Clinical experiences include placement in a family practice centre, an experience in a drug-abuse treatment centre and a brief rotation in geriatric medicine. Students are evaluated on their performance in clinical settings and in an objective test of primary care concepts. Test performance shows significant growth from student pre- to post-test scores. Student evaluations have been very favourable toward the clerkship, and self-reports reveal growth in knowledge of common illnesses, problems of the elderly, problems of drug abuse and the role of the family doctor.