Student race and gender and patient encounters in a family medicine clerkship

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine the association of students’ race and gender with the race, gender, age, patient numbers, and problems encountered during a third-year family medicine clerkship across a geographically distributed clinical teaching network. METHODS: Student patient experience logbook data from two separate but adjacent 3-year periods were analyzed. Mixed-effects regression models and generalized linear mixed models were used to determine the relationship between student race and gender on number and demographics of patients encountered and odds of encountering required conditions and gender-specific conditions at least once during the clerkship. RESULTS: A total of 458 students documented 66,752 encounters during academic years 2008 through 2010, and 498 students documented 70,213 encounters during academic years 2011 through 2013. The first cohort averaged 145.8 (SD 24.0) encounters per student and the second cohort averaged 141.1 (SD 19.5) encounters per student. Females had more encounters during the first period, but no difference in the second. There was no difference in average encounters between white and nonwhite students during the first period, but during the second, nonwhite students had more encounters. A few differences were found in odds of encountering required conditions or gender-specific conditions, but none were consistent across time. CONCLUSIONS: Family medicine clerkship students in this geographically distributed network did not experience significant differences in patient demographics, conditions, or gender-specific diseases, based on their gender or race. The teaching sites in the study were monitored continuously to ensure consistent clinical experiences in volume and scope.