Practice locations of longitudinal integrated clerkship graduates: a matched-cohort study.

Background: Longitudinal integrated clerkships (LICs) have been introduced as an innovative model to impart medical education. In Canada, most LIC experiences are situated in rural communities. Studies have reported equivalence in graduates from rural LICs and traditional rotation-based clerkships (RBCs) in their performance in residency, as well as in national medical licensure examinations. We sought to determine the impact of rural LICs in terms of practice location of graduates.

Methods: A matched cohort was developed on the basis of student background and sex to compare practice location of rural LIC and RBC graduates. We used the χ(2) test to assess the association between type of clerkship stream and practice location.

Results: We found an association between participation in a rural LIC and rural practice location.

Conclusions: Rural LIC programs play an important role in introducing students to rural medicine and may be an effective tool in responding to the shortage of rural practitioners.