Not all who wander are lost: evaluation of the Hull York medical school longitudinal integrated clerkship

ABSTRACT

Longitudinal integrated clerkships (LICs) are increasingly available within the United Kingdom, but gaps in knowledge remain regarding their efficacy and the influence of local context. In 2019–20, the Hull York Medical School ran a pilot LIC for 6 fourth-year medical students. This work describes the longitudinal qualitative programme evaluation. LIC students participated in two focus groups, one after four months, and another at the end of the programme. In total, 16 faculty were also interviewed regarding their experiences in developing, implementing and running the LIC. Students’ GP supervisors were difficult to engage in detailed evaluation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and so were briefly surveyed at the end of the LIC. All data were pooled and analysed together using reflexive thematic analysis. Two major themes were identified: ‘Trajectory of the LIC’, describing the learning curve students and faculty encounter, and ‘Institutional decision making’, describing the need for clarity regarding the programme’s purpose. The programme was largely positively received, but areas for improvement locally, and transferrable recommendations, were identified. Aligning assessment to programme aims is an important area for future development, alongside balancing structured with unstructured time, and supporting students as they navigate a J-shaped learning curve.

KEYWORDS:

• Longitudinal integrated clerkship
• evaluation
• primary care
• medical education

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all participants for their time and engagement with this evaluation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical approval

As routinely collected evaluative data, tutor surveys were deemed exempt from the need for institutional ethics panel approval following correspondence with the Hull York Medical School review board. Interview data were collected as part of the lead author’s thesis studies, approval number 1840, Hull York Medical School.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.