Your Part in Educating Future Primary Care Clinicians

Dear Community Colleagues,

Thanks to the many of you who continue to precept residents and medical students in your practices. The opportunity to share what we have learned over years of practice satisfies a basic call to teach medicine and to influence tomorrow’s practitioners. You are important to the education of future primary care clinicians.

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of precepting, please consider hosting a student or resident for a rotation in your practice. Although there is a time commitment on your part to teach, the time spent is offset by the advantages residents and students bring to a practice. Trainees can assume responsibility for minor procedures and tests. They can perform time-consuming, but important, functions such as reviewing documentation in the medical record and making follow-up phone calls. They can hone their patient communication skills in counseling patients and parents about such topics as sports injury prevention, weight management and the use of inhalers, while helping to meet the practice’s obligation for patient education.

Residents and students often bring high-level computer skills to precepting practices. Their technical expertise is a good trade off for the daily clinical expertise primary care providers can share. They can spark enthusiasm and reinforce our own commitment to pediatric medicine.

Precepting is a win/win proposition for both teacher and student. I hope you will open your doors to medical trainees this year. For more information on resident rotations, contact Dr. Steven Poole at (720) 777-6004 or steven.poole@childrenscolorado.org. For information on medical student precepting, contact Dr. Jenny Soep at (720) 777-5417 or jennifer.soep@childrenscolorado.org. You’ll be glad you did.

Sincerely,

Jay Markson, MD
President, Children's Hospital Colorado Medical Board