What’s My Student Doing All Week?
“Even though students only see you once a week, or once every two weeks, they’re growing in between time.”
— Student
“I remember feeling a lot of pressure to be all things of my specialty to my LIC students and acknowledging that medicine happens in…a variety of different settings and that they will get a different perspective…on many conditions and you don’t have to be their single point of understanding for every single condition.”
— Preceptor
“I started eventually having our office staff put on my schedule the days that the students are going to be there and then that really helped me…in terms of like, where I was going to put patients.”
— Preceptor
It is important for preceptors to have a basic understanding of a student’s schedule so they can help manage expectations, find ways to best utilize self-directed learning time and flexibility in the schedule, and know what to expect. Listed below is a sample schedule for a week in the LIC. Keep in mind schedules can shift from week to week as students are balancing inpatient immersions, other required activities, certain rotating specialties, vacations, exams, etc.
Example of a student’s weekly schedule:
Managing expectations in the LIC model:
Students will be slower in the beginning of the year.
Remember you will spend an entire year with them, not just 4-8 weeks like in the traditional model.
Go in with an understanding of how often and for how many sessions you will see your student during the year
LIC coordinators will provide schedules as early as possible and can help answer questions.
Make goals and plan to check-in on these goals accordingly.
Even if you are only seeing a student once a week or once every two weeks, remember they are growing in between and learning from other specialties and preceptors.
Consider other environments that you work in and invite your student to work with you in these settings (e.g. OR, inpatient medicine, other clinics, etc.)
It may be helpful to inquire about when certain didactics in your specialty will be occurring, when students are taking exams for your specialty, when certain assignments are due, etc.
Encourage student autonomy: limit shadowing to only in the very beginning of the year.
Utilize the self-directed learning time and flexibility in student schedules when appropriate to follow certain cohort patients or for special opportunities. Your LIC coordinator can help.
