What students say about learning and teaching in longitudinal ambulatory primary care clerkships: a multi-institutional study.

Objective: Ambulatory primary care clerkships have become crucial elements in medical education. Although most such clerkships employ a block-rotation format, an alternative longitudinal approach has been developed. This study examines students' perceptions of learning and instruction occurring during longitudinal ambulatory clerkships.

Methods: Characteristics of longitudinal ambulatory primary care clerkships at five medical schools are described. Responses of 429 medical students to a standardized survey administered at these institutions are analyzed to ascertain perceptions of learning and teaching occurring during longitudinal ambulatory clerkship experiences.

Results: Enhancements of interpersonal communication and clinical skills were perceived to be the most positive learning attributes of the longitudinal ambulatory clerkships. No advantage was discerned with respect to disease-pattern recognition or generation of differential diagnoses. While significant inter-institutional variation was present, particularly with respect to instructional format, there was notable agreement regarding several aspects of clerkship-related learning and the adequacy of faculty supervision.

Conclusions: Students perceived that learning during longitudinal ambulatory clerkships had greater impact on skill enhancement than on attainment of knowledge-related objectives. Sources of variation in student opinion, perceptions of learning as a function of career preference, and correlation of students' perceptions of learning to demonstrable changes in their competence require further investigation.