Determining the costs of a required third-year family medicine clerkship in an ambulatory setting

To help elucidate the costs of clinical education in ambulatory settings by determining the costs of one ambulatory family medicine clerkship.

Prospective, ongoing, strict cost and time accountings for a required four-week, third-year family medicine clerkship were carried out from January 1995 to July 1996. Volunteer community preceptors' expenses were estimated using average family physicians' salaries as documented in the literature.

The costs of this clerkship per student ranged from $959 when no clinical office teaching time was reimbursed to $2,713 when all clinical office teaching time was reimbursed.

This study documents, in detail, the costs of a mandatory family medicine clerkship. Questions arise about the reimbursement of volunteer community preceptors. The blueprint developed for assessing costs can be used with modifications by other schools and clerkships.