Medical students as primary care providers: a novel curriculum enhancing understanding of chronic disease management
Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: The traditional model of medical education has been criticized for providing a fragmented learning experience that fails to engage students in patient-centered care.1-3 Because students rotate between specialties each month of their clinical year, they develop only brief therapeutic relationships with individual patients, rarely assume ownership of patient care, and are unable to contribute to chronic disease management or appreciate the long-term effects of medical interventions. We thus present a newly structured clerkship in which medical students, overseen by preceptors, function as long-term primary care providers (PCPs) for a personal panel of patients. Moreover, because the clerkship is integrated into the operation of our institution’s Primary Care Center (PCC), our model has several unique features that facilitate implementation of medical student education in the outpatient setting and the delivery of high-quality patient care.
Clinic mission
Wednesday Evening Clinic (WEC) is a student-staffed clinic recently integrated into the PCC of the Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH). It was established with the mission of providing an extensive primary care experience for senior Yale medical students, in which they manage their own cohort of approximately 30 adult patients as PCPs under supervision of attending physicians. Each year, up to 15 Yale medical students beyond their third year are selected to participate in WEC weekly for one year or more. Medical students take ownership of multiple aspects of patients’ care, including general health maintenance, chronic disease management, age-appropriate screening, counseling, and patient-care coordination. WEC primarily serves an underserved patient population mostly insured by Medicaid and Medicare.
Institution: Yale University
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2512701845