Benefits of early predoctoral experiences in longitudinal patient care

A ten-year experience with a continuity clerkship taught to second-year medical students is described. Students enrolled in this course spend one half-day per week for nine months with a practicing family physician, attend a weekly seminar or workshop, and write a longitudinal patient care report. This comprehensive report summarizes their experience with a patient or a family and addresses pertinent medical and psychosocial issues. Forty-four of these reports were analyzed for the 1981-82 academic year. The analysis revealed that the main benefits to the students from the longitudinal experience were (1) recognizing the importance of continuity of care, (2) observing the interplay between the social environment, family, and the patient's health, (3) gaining insight into the role of the family physician, and (4) experiencing the difficulties of chronic disease management.