Academic achievement and primary care specialty selection of volunteers at a student-run free clinic.

Background: Previous studies have reached conflicting conclusions about the associations between service and academic achievement and service and primary care specialty choice.

Purposes: This study examines the associations between service at a student-run clinic and academic achievement and primary care specialty choice.

Methods: Retrospective review of medical student service and statistical analysis of grade point average (GPA), Step 1 and Step 2 Clinical Knowledge (CK) scores, and specialty choice were conducted, as approved by our Institutional Review Board.

Know your audience: analysis of chief complaints at clinica esperanza, a student-run free clinic in memphis, tennessee.

Purpose: To identify the chief complaints and demographics at Clinica Esperanza, a student-run free clinic for an underserved Hispanic population.

Methods: A retrospective chart review of patient files from 2005 through 2010 was undertaken, as approved by the University of Tennessee Health Science Center's Institutional Review Board.

Results: From 2005 through 2010, Clinica Esperanza fielded 2551 patient visits, consisting of 951 unique patients, 609 females and 342 males.

Study of physiological responses to acute carbon monoxide exposure with a human patient simulator.

Human patient simulators are widely used to train health professionals and students in a clinical setting, but they also can be used to enhance physiology education in a laboratory setting. Our course incorporates the human patient simulator for experiential learning in which undergraduate university juniors and seniors are instructed to design, conduct, and present (orally and in written form) their project testing physiological adaptation to an extreme environment. This article is a student report on the physiological response to acute carbon monoxide exposure in a simulated healthy adult male and a coal miner and represents how 1) human patient simulators can be used in a nonclinical way for experiential hypothesis testing; 2) students can transition from traditional textbook learning to practical application of their knowledge; and 3) student-initiated group investigation drives critical thought.