Learning forestry out of the lumberyard. A training alternative for primary care.

Undergraduate clinical training typically involves short-term "rotations" in a tertiary care health center. While such a structure is highly conducive to learning in various specialties, it is particularly limiting to the student's acquisition of the wide array of clinical abilities necessary for primary care. An alternative model is the use of a long-term preceptorship in a primary care setting. This provides training with a more representative patient population and offers a richer clinical experience. An example of this model is a Minnesota program that allows third-year undergraduate medical students to spend nine to 12 months in select primary care settings while receiving ongoing teaching visits from university faculty in major specialty areas. The model can be a legitimate alternative for clinical education of primary care physicians.