The nurse, business person, lab technician, and receptionist can provide insights for the student. This may not always be the best learning strategy. An article by Epstein et al details critical education experiences in which students were only observers of the clinical encounter. 1 Encounters such as these are ones that may take little extra teaching time for preceptors. Physician Burnout Teaching students reminds doctors why they enjoy medicine.
Students ask questions that challenge preceptors.
These questions require the physicians to have an explanation as to why they treated a patient in a certain way, and it is an opportunity to rethink the approach to treating a certain disease state. We are always students, and the preceptor and student can learn from each other. Some clinics always have a student, and patients know they may be seen by a student. For those clinics that take students intermittently, patients should be informed about the student s presence by the receptionist, the person checking in the patient, or by a sign at the reception desk. Patients who do not wish to see a student can be seen by the preceptor alone.