Workshop Content: Teaching in the Clinic and Hospital-Strategies to Ensure that Students Add Value in Outpatient Offices

Pdf Summary

This document outlines comprehensive strategies to ensure medical students add value during outpatient clinical rotations, benefiting both patient care and educational experiences.<br /><br />Preparation before rotations involves collaboration between course directors, coordinators, and practice leaders to create clear policies, orientation materials, and role descriptions tailored to students’ skills and responsibilities. Key preparations include granting students access to electronic health records (EHRs), providing business cards for patient communication, and training students in clinical skills such as motivational interviewing, basic procedures, EHR use, health coaching, and care management tasks.<br /><br />During the rotation, students contribute actively by engaging in pre-visit planning (ordering preventive services, calling patients), assisting during visits (rooming patients, documenting care, medication reconciliation, immunizations, blood draws), and post-visit follow-up (answering patient portal inquiries, making follow-up calls, coordinating care with specialists). They can also support population health by managing patient panels, assisting various clinical team members, and helping meet quality metrics.<br /><br />Students enhance the team by developing patient education materials, sharing technology expertise, and addressing clinical questions. At rotation end, course directors facilitate closure by providing certificates for students to thank patients, offering feedback to practices, and publicly recognizing preceptor contributions.<br /><br />Engagement with preceptors centers on efficient teaching informed by developmental models like RIME, reinforcing that teaching aids lifelong learning and is valued by the health system. Recognizing preceptors through feedback and certificates supports retention amid productivity pressures and increasing demands for training sites.<br /><br />The initiative responds to challenges in recruiting and retaining community preceptors, promoting a fourth strategy that allows students to actively add clinical value—complementing intrinsic motivation, non-financial incentives, and financial compensation. By enabling students to contribute meaningfully, teaching becomes more feasible and enriching for preceptors, students, and patients alike.

Asset Subtitle

A 4-page outline of ideas compiled by the Society for the Teaching of Family Medicine.

Keywords

medical students

outpatient clinical rotations

patient care

educational experiences

electronic health records

clinical skills training

pre-visit planning

population health management

preceptor recognition

teaching strategies