Improving medical students' competencies: using longitudinal ambulatory setting preceptorship

Abstract

LetterA preceptorship is an optional experience in which an experienced physician gives a personal guide and supervision to medical students during the first or second year of medical school. Preceptorships offer the preclinical medical student good opportunity to track a patient over time and to experience a real clinical setting. The results of previous articles about preceptorship showed that the students report that this method can be an effective way of preparing them for clinical training and motivation for studying basic sciences. Besides it provides a unique opportunity to see the patients in follow up visits. (Tan 2011, Willoughby 2016).The present experience was carried out in Shiraz medical school that is one of the oldest and best ranked medical school in south Iran (Nasr 2009).In this experience, a combination of shadowing program for first year medical students, Individual preceptorship (IP) stage 1 for second and third year medical students and IP stage 2 for clinical students was done. All of the preceptorship supervision was done by an experience full professor cardiologist who was also an expert in the field of medical education. A well-educated general practitioner was also selected as a perceptor. A total number of 8 first years and 8 second and third years and 10 medical students in clinical setting participated voluntarily in this program.For first year medical students shadowing program was designed by observing doctor-patient communication. This shadowing experience offers the first year medical student a chance for seeing their future career, knowing the realities of medicine, and realizing the importance of professionalism.IP during stage 1 pairs each second or third year medical student with the general practitioner to work in an