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Students' time allocation in a required third-year ambulatory care clerkship
S L Lawrence1, D H Mark, P K Fulkerson
1Medical College of Wisconsin, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Milwauke 53226.
Summary
Medical students in ambulatory care clerkships spent more time working independently as rotations progressed. However, private practice sites may offer less student autonomy compared to faculty practices.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Ambulatory Care Medicine
Background:
- Ambulatory care clerkships are crucial for third-year medical students.
- Understanding student time allocation is key to optimizing clinical education.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess how third-year medical students utilize their time during ambulatory care clerkship clinic sessions.
- To identify factors influencing student time use, such as practice site and rotation progression.
Main Methods:
- A study involving 207 third-year medical students at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
- Students reported time use in eight categories over two clinic sessions.
- Data analyzed using t-tests and one-way analysis of variance.
Main Results:
- Students spent an average of four hours per clinic session.
- Compared to faculty practices, private practices involved more observation and less solo work.
- Student time spent seeing patients independently increased, while observation time decreased during rotations.
- Later cohorts showed increased independent work and decreased preceptor observation.
Conclusions:
- Student autonomy and independent work increased over time within and across rotations.
- Private practice preceptors may offer less autonomy than faculty preceptors.
- Further research is needed to evaluate educational quality and optimal activity mix.