April 17, 2009

, MD

Address

Dear Dr. ,

Thank you for organizing such a great visit. I’m particularly glad that we were both able to get out to and speak to the providers there. University of Washington medical students are fortunate to be supported by such an excellent and dedicated group of professionals. It is clear from my visit, the conversation I had with your medical student and your evaluations that is a strong teaching site. I want to reinforce the many wonderful aspects of your site and note the areas where you could work to make your site even better.

Strengths:

  • You are an excellent teacher. You do a nice job with the curriculum laid out by the clerkship and a wonderful job of teaching the art of family medicine. Your colleagues are wonderful additions to the education you provide, as they have different patient populations and different styles in providing care.
  • Wide range of clinical experiences allowing students to appreciate and be challenged by the full breadth of family medicine.
  • Lots of hands-on experience, which challenge third year students beyond what they usually are allowed to do.
  • Students the opportunity to follow patients between the clinic and the hospital, even in the span of a single day.
  • Excellent OB experience, including C-sections with two different providers.
  • Strong outpatient experience. Students routinely see patients as first contact and have the opportunity to close a visit.
  • Dr. A offers students the opportunity to have an entire visit observed, which is something that is not easily accomplished.
  • Although there are a couple of items that need updating, the student’s apartment is clean, spacious and well managed.
  • Faculty and staff go out of their way to make the student feel welcome in the clinic and community.
  • Faculty and staff are happy and clearly enjoy their jobs and their patients.
  • Students get to experience the role of a family physician in a rural community.
  • Students are provided with clear, honest feedback throughout their rotations and are also encouraged to give faculty the same feedback.

Challenges:

  • In five years, you are going to retire. While your clinical replacement is unknown, this could be a difficult tradition for such a strong site that relies so heavily on your excellent teaching.
  • Having an OB student will possibly decrease the OB contact for the student. Archie McPhee, the current student, didn’t feel this way, but you seemed a little concerned about this possibility.
  • Now that the airport in town is closed, students either have to drive or take the train. This is fine, but could prove to be more difficult for students coming from different sites, further away. We talked about the possibility of having the car parked at the student housing at another WWAMI site and then, if a student flew in, he or she could drive to your site. This plan still needs some thought, but the transportation is a little sticky at the moment.

Action Items:

  • We are going to work on getting Dr. A faculty status.
  • I will talk to the travel people about the transit/car situation.
  • A couple of minor suggestions for improving the housing:
  • Provide student with wireless internet connection
  • The telephone could use a new cord.
  • There seem to be a dearth of knives (for cutting rather than butter knives). Getting a few more of those would be helpful.

As always, it is abundantly clear that you are a model teacher. In Seattle, we greatly appreciate all of the excellent teaching and support you provide for our students. Yours is a wonderful site and it is clear much students benefit from their time with you.

All the best,

Missy Gleckel

Clerkship Co-Coordinator