The Utility of EMRs in Student Run Clinics.

Background: A student-run free clinic (SRFC) is a health care delivery system in which undergraduate medical students assume the responsibility of an outpatient health clinic. This provides a unique opportunity for early exposure to patients in a student's pre-clinical years.

Methods: Pre- and post-experience electronic surveys were sent out to first-year medical students who were required to complete a minimum of three sessions as a volunteer at one of two SRFCs in the metro Detroit area. The Fisher's exact test was used to assess for a significant change after clinic experience with p < 0.05.

Results: Thirty-one students completed the pre-experience survey. Twenty-five students completed the post-experience survey. The Fisher's exact test demonstrated a significant increase in the proportion of positive answers for questions concerning comfort with taking a medical history (p = 0.002) and comfort with using an electronic medical record (EMR) (p = 0.048). There was no significant difference in comfort working as part of a team (p = 0.581), discussing a patient with a physician (p = 0.602) or interacting with different socio-economic backgrounds (p = 0.720).

Conclusion: SRFCs provide a beneficial opportunity for early patient and clinical exposure for pre-clinical medical students, including practice using an EMR, which is an essential tool in our electronic era. More research, however, is needed to determine the most effective way to teach skillful EMR use.