title: A comparison of clinical pediatric patient encounters in university medical center and community private practice settings.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Growing numbers of medical students complete clerkships in community private practice (CPP) settings instead of the more traditional university-based clinics, yet few empirical studies have evaluated how setting type impacts clinical experiences, skill development, and student satisfaction.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study compared the pediatric patient encounters seen by third-year medical students in university medical center (UMC) and CPP settings.
  
  
  METHODS
  Third-year medical students were required to keep a log of all patients seen during their 8-week pediatric clerkship. Logbook entries were coded and then analyzed for differences in the number and distribution of the primary diagnostic categories between settings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  CPP students reported, on the average, seeing over 3 times more patients than UMC students. The case mix distribution also differed significantly by setting. In general, CPP students reported seeing proportionately more routine illnesses, whereas UMC students reported seeing proportionately more uncommon disorders. Because CPP students saw more patients overall, they averaged more cases in almost all diagnostic categories.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CPP students received more clinical patient exposure than UMC students, except for patients in a few diagnostic categories.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Nebraska College of Medicine, Omaha 68198, USA. famccurd@unmc.edu
authors.forename: Fredrick A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: McCurdy
authors.forename: Douglas M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Sell
authors.forename: Gary L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Beck
authors.forename: Katie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kerber
authors.forename: Robert E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Larzelere
authors.forename: Joseph H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Evans
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers / Q000458:organization & administration*; D002982:Clinical Clerkship / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016304:Hospitals, Private / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000193:education* / Q000458:organization & administration*