Does a reduction in family medicine clerkship time affect educational outcomes?

Background and Objectives: Little is known about the relationship between t he length of a family medicine clerkship and its educational outcomes. Afte r our family medicine clerkship time decreased from 6 weeks to 4 weeks in J uly 1997, we studied how this change in clerkship length affected education al outcomes. Methods: Educational outcomes for the 2-year periods before an d after the change were examined and compared whenever possible. Outcome me asurements included student ratings of different aspects of the clerkship a nd student performance on clerkship examinations. Results: Students' exposu re to common clinical problems was unaffected by the change. For the 4-week clerkship, there was a slight increase in student ratings of the adequacy of number of patients seen, the opportunity to follow-up with patients, the ability to develop health promotion plans, and overall satisfaction. Becau se the combinations of examinations used differed each year; student perfor mance on clerkship examinations could not be directly compared. Conclusions : Educational outcomes of the 4-week clerkship were similar to the 6-week c lerkship. A few, key outcomes improved. Various curricular and structural c hanges instituted for the 4-week clerkship contributed to the stability in outcomes. Reports from other medical schools may give additional insight in to understanding this relationship.