Medical student and faculty perceptions of desirable primary care teaching site characteristics.

Background: As the need to expand and improve primary care teaching experiences has mushroomed, the need to identify desirable preceptor and site characteristics has also grown.

Purpose: The current study was designed to assess the relative importance students and preceptors place on site versus preceptor characteristics.

Methods: After a required year-long primary care experience, third-year medical students (n=39) and primary care preceptors (n=20) completed a Q-sort exercise.

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

Purpose: 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.

Change in medical students' attitudes about primary care during the third year of medical school.

Purpose: This study explores how medical students' attitudes and career interests change over the third year, and it investigates the potential of an attitudinal instrument to predict specialty interest.

Method: A total of 106 students in the classes of 1992-1994 at the Clinical Campus at Binghamton of the State University of New York Health Science Center at Syracuse College of Medicine were surveyed at the beginning and end of their third year about specialty interests and attitudes toward medical care practices. The students were divided into primary care, non-primary-care, and undecided groups based on end-of-year preferences.