Longitudinal integrated clerkships (LICs) are growing in popularity in part due to their benefits in leading to sustained improvements in patient-centeredness and empathy among medical students. To sustain the documented academic and humanistic benefits of the LIC as its prevalence grows, we need to consider and propagate intentional precepting practices that support the proposed learning mechanisms in the LIC.

Development of a new LIC site involves recruitment of new clinician educators or transition of faculty from traditional block models to the LIC. Most practicing physicians and preceptors did not train in a LIC and may be new to teaching in one as well. This LIC Faculty Development Guidebook highlights best-practice precepting strategies to help new LIC preceptors excel and optimize the LIC experience for students.

To develop this guide, we undertook a qualitative study exploring the perspectives of students and faculty at two longitudinal integrated clerkship sites within the University of Colorado School of Medicine (CUSOM). Faculty participants included representatives from pediatrics, internal medicine, family medicine, psychiatry, emergency medicine, surgery, and obstetrics/gynecology. We asked student and faculty participants to identify:

• Effective clinical teaching strategies in the LIC

• Unique aspects of goal setting and feedback in the LIC

• Strategies to support students’ longitudinal relationship with patients in the LIC

• Impactful ways to integrate students into healthcare teams in the LIC

• Methods to foster student autonomy in the LIC

• High-yield tips for new LIC preceptors

Their stories tell us, loud and clear, that exemplary LIC preceptors appreciate the trajectory of the LIC learner, understand and are invested in the LIC model, and leverage the longitudinal nature of the LIC for maximal impact. They tell us that experiences for both students and faculty can be optimized by intentional precepting practices that take advantage of the longitudinal and dynamic interplay between students, preceptors, healthcare teams, and patients. We have jam-packed this guide with their tips, stories, and strategies about “What Works in the LIC” to inform teams for the LIC journey ahead.