The Family Medicine Clerkship is built on the educational theory that students learn best from real patients when that learning is reinforced by didactic seminars and readings. You will spend the majority of the rotation working with experienced Family Medicine clinicians and teachers in outpatient settings. We want you to learn in a thoughtful way. Rushing through patients is not a way to do that. You should not try to keep up the pace of your experienced preceptor. We expect that you will see about 7-8 patients a day and in addition have about 1/2 day each week where you study clinical material in more depth and prepare your assignments (excluding first week when you have the orientation and the last week when you have your exams).

This learning will be further reinforced with didactic teaching. A key part of the clerkship is learning how to Improve the Health of Populations. Two Team Based Learning (TBL) sessions will introduce you to improving the health of populations of patients as part of the CARE assignment. TBL #1 will happen during orientation. TBL #2 will happen during your second Day Back seminar at your AHEC site. With the help of your preceptor and your AHEC faculty you will write a CARE consultation note for a complicated patient in your practice. For students interested in learning more about why team based learning is such an effective teaching strategy follow this link for background on TBL.

Your learning will also be augmented by multiple opportunities to improve your clinical skills through direct observation. During the orientation you will participate in a MSK and Procedures Workshop that will improve your skills in these areas. As part of the CARE assignment, you will video record yourself practicing motivational interviewing and goal setting with a patient. You will review this recording with your peers. You will also be observed providing care during your Observed Patient Encounter and get direct feedback from one of your campus faculty. Your community preceptor will also be encouraged to watch you directly. Finally your OSCE gives you another opportunity to be observed and get feedback on your clinical skills.

Another didactic small group session during your day back seminars focuses on learning to prioritize multiple competing guideline recommendations in patients with multiple co-morbidities.

The Essentials of Family Medicine textbook was selected to match the educational objectives of the clerkship. You are encouraged to read in depth about the patients you see during the rotation. The Resource section of the clerkship is designed to help you further solidify your learning.