The Primary Care Core Clerkship consists of a year-long preceptorship with a primary care physician and a series of interdisciplinary seminars. As a longitudinal clerkship, this course enables students to participate in the continuity of care of patients, establish a meaningful relationship with a practicing primary care clinician, and integrate all of the training from other core clerkships into an entire third-year experience.
The main objectives of the clerkship are to teach students: 1) the basic knowledge, skill, and understanding of what it is to be a primary care practitioner; 2) the diagnosis and management of common medical problems; 3) the concepts of continuity, communication, and comprehensive care; 4) the importance of compassion and empowerment; 5) the role of primary care physicians in terms of the larger medical community; and 6) knowledge of their own skills and limits, and to know when to ask for help.
Each student is assigned to a preceptor who will mentor the student for the year. Preceptors include family physicians, internists, pediatricians, and general obstetricians/ gynecologists who are either UCSD faculty or community physicians who are UCSD non-salaried volunteer faculty. Preceptor sites vary widely and include a broad range of primary care settings.
Students spend one afternoon per week, three times each month, working in their preceptor's office. Ideally, students will follow a number of the same patients or families over the course of the year. Students do not attend Primary Care 401 afternoon clinic during the eight-week Surgery 401 clerkship, but are required to attend Primary Care 401 seminars.
One afternoon each month, groups of ten students meet for seminars led by one or two faculty members. Topics covered include: primary care throughout the life cycle, cross-cultural medicine and cultural competency, outpatient office procedures, patient counseling and education, and health care systems.
Students are evaluated using a number of criteria, including preceptorship experience, seminar participation, performance on the final examination, case presentations, homework problem sets, and patient logs.
Instructors: Lynch, Ruo and faculty