Table 6.

Feedback Comments From Students About Educational Value of Experience

I learned of the many, many different people in myriad clinical roles who play a role in clinical care and documentation (eg, contact [nurse manager] to remove deceased patients, contact this phone pool to schedule a visit, contact this person if it’s a COVID visit, contact this person if it’s an urgent COVID visit, etc). Helps to understand and grasp the complexity and breadth that goes into running a clinic, especially a resident clinic.

Sad, but I realized how patients have to see so many different physicians at our clinic and that continuity of care just isn’t as possible as you would like it to be at a resident clinic.

Many, many patients assumed the clinic was closed or that it was not safe to come in due to COVID. Many missed appointments for this. Many did not know or guess that we would do telehealth visits.

Many had health questions unrelated to COVID that they were sitting on and waiting for a chance to tell someone. This emphasized for me the importance of regular well visits (the patient may not schedule it themself but they still have issues they could benefit from seeing a doctor for) and the potential in random, unplanned phone check-ins. That’s not something I’ve seen any other clinic do but could be a good thing in particular for high-risk patients.

It was helpful to have similar scripts that (the other student) and I used for sending pt letters, for leaving VMs, for introducing ourselves to every pt we called, etc.

I was surprised by how many pts switched PCPs, and how this was not reflected in our EMR.

I learned you have to be explicit in telling staff members what you want them to do. Can’t just route saying call this patient to schedule. Have to say, call this patient and schedule with X doctor between Y-Z dates for a HTN check in visit.

Emphasis on the appreciation pts showed for calling and checking in with them

This was a great med student project because I was able to interact with pts and learn how to triage calls, who to go to for help, how to navigate the EMR, etc. This helped me to feel more comfortable with clinic as a resident.

Abbreviations: PCP, primary care provider; EMR, electronic medical record; HTN, hypertension.