Summer Program Introduces Seven Medical Students to Family Medicine

For seven first- and second-year UW School of Medicine and Public Health students, this summer offered a first glimpse at what it's like to be a family physician.

These students recently completed an eight-week summer research and clinical assistantship (SCRA) at the Department of Family Medicine (DFM).

Each worked one-on-one with a DFM faculty mentor, observing patient care, conducting research, and meeting other practitioners.

All left with a greater understanding of, and often a deeper professional interest in, the practice of family medicine.

Early Exposure to Patient Care and Research

According to DFM Professor Jonathan Temte, MD, PhD, who has led the SCRA for 13 years, the program is designed to introduce medical students to family medicine—at its broadest level—early on in their training.

"We want to expose students to clinical family medicine by having them work closely with one of our physicians," he said. "We also want to show them how research inquiries are done in the context of primary care."

Dr. Temte added that the students are valuable resources for faculty who want to initiate or continue work on research projects.

"The students invariably bring enthusiasm, intelligence, and hard work to the summer project, and I have enjoyed working with them all," said DFM Associate Professor Sarina Schrager, MD, who has mentored SCRA students for the past 13 years.

"I love that they are able to see what we do as family physicians, and that we can be busy clinicians while completing office based primary care research," she added.

Didactics Plus Osmosis

Dr. Temte, in collaboration with the DFM's medical student education and research divisions, acts as the "matchmaker" between potential faculty mentors and interested students. Once matched, each pair works together to define the specific goals and details of the experience.

The program offers two days of didactic training at the beginning of the eight weeks, plus another day of training in the middle of the session.

The rest of the time, students learn through regular, close contact with their mentor. Dr. Temte calls it "learning through osmosis."

For example, students may shadow their mentor at the clinic or hospital, conduct research projects, and socialize with other family medicine physicians, residents, and students.

Final Research Presentations

At the end of the eight weeks, students present abstracts of their research work at a final group meeting. The projects presented on July 16, 2010, were:

• GardenFit: Prevention of Summer Weight Gain in Adolescents (Student: Jessica Shackman; Mentors: Alexandra Adams, MD, PhD and Tara LaRowe, PhD)
• Vitamin D Testing and Treatment Practices of Family Physicians (Student: Erin Reddy; Mentor: Sarina Schrager, MD)
• Loss to Follow-up of Patients with Abnormal Cervical Cytology in Two Family Medicine Residency Clinics (Student: Thomas Garvey; Mentors: Ann Evensen, MD, and Helen Luce, DO)
• Meditation and Exercise for Prevention of Acute Respiratory Infection (Student: Joshua Taylor; Mentor: Bruce Barrett, MD, PhD)
• An Assessment of Racial Disparity in Rates of H1N1-associated Hospitalization (Student: Jessica Tischendorf; Mentor: Jonathan Temte, MD, PhD)
• The Effect of Prolotherapy on Subjects with Osteoarthritic Knee Pain: A Qualitative Study (Student: Lane Benes; Mentor: David Rabago, MD)
• Outcomes of Community Clinic-Based Deliveries in Wisconsin Amish Women (Student: Laura Lynch; Mentors: Lee Dresang, MD, John Frey, MD, and James De Line, MD)

View project summaries »

Future Investments

For students, the program is not just a valuable educational experience. It often results in the concrete deliverables that strengthen future residency applications.

"The program has a very good track record of publications, as well as regional or national presentations," Dr. Temte said. "I'm almost always impressed with what students are able to accomplish in a relatively short amount of time."

The SCRA also helps groom needed primary care physicians. Dr. Temte estimates that at least half of participating students go into family practice, with the majority of the rest entering another primary care specialty.

That was certainly the case for DFM resident Anne Kolan, MD, who participated in the SCRA as a medical student. "I found the summer research experience to be very rewarding," she said. "My time with [mentor] Sarina Schrager, MD, definitely reinforced my desire to become a family physician, as I saw her balance a variety of complicated patients with ease."

"Prior to the experience, my view of research consisted of detailed "bench" work," Dr. Kolan added, "but after spending the summer with Sarina, I learned more about qualitative, clinical research and could picture myself including such research in my future practice."