title: Comparison of Medical Students' Satisfaction with Family Medicine Clerkships between University Hospitals and Community Hospitals or Clinics.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The purpose of this study was to compare students' awareness of and satisfaction with clerkships in family medicine between a university hospital and a community hospital or clinic.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-eight 4th year medical students who were undergoing a clerkship in family medicine in the 1st semester of 2012 were surveyed via questionnaire. The questionnaire was administered both before and after the clerkship.
  
  
  RESULTS
  External clerkships were completed in eight family medicine clinics and two regional hospitals. At preclerkship, participants showed strong expectation for understanding primary care and recognition of the need for community clerkship, mean scores of 4.3±0.5 and 4.1±0.7, respectively. At post-clerkship, participants showed a significant increase in recognition of the need for community clerkship (4.7±0.5, P<0.001). The pre-clerkship recognition of differences in patient characteristics between university hospitals and community hospitals or clinics was 4.1±0.7; at post-clerkship, it was 3.9±0.7. Students' confidence in their ability to see a first-visit patient and their expectation of improved interviewing skills both significantly increased at post-clerkship (P<0.01). Satisfaction with feedback from preceptors and overall satisfaction with the clerkship also significantly increased, but only for the university hospital clerkship (P<0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Students' post-clerkship satisfaction was uniformly high for both clerkships. At pre-clerkship, students were aware of the differences in patient characteristics between university hospitals and community hospitals or clinics, and this awareness did not change by the end of the clerkship.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Dankook University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea.
authors.forename: Eal Whan
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Park
keywords: Clinical Clerkship; Community Medicine; Medical Students; Primary Health Care