Outpatient US Clinical Experience in Family Medicine in Albuquerque

Information about this clinical experience:

You will be under the supervision of a board-certified family medicine physician who cares for a largely underserved Spanish-speaking population. Most patients in this practice are uninsured and low-income individuals. Please note that this rotation requires fluency in Spanish.

With years of experience caring for underserved patients, this preceptor has created a practice that allows for the provision of lower-cost care to patients with limited financial means. Rotating in this practice will make you carefully consider how healthcare can be delivered in a very different way. Useful articles to read prior to the rotation are the following:

What You Can Do To Help Your Uninsured Patients

Addressing Social Determinants of Health in Primary Care

The preceptor completed family medicine residency training at the University of New Mexico. The physician is a passionate educator, and is dedicated to helping students reach their professional goals in medicine. The preceptor has helped many students from diverse backgrounds achieve their dreams of becoming physicians.

A unique aspect of this rotation is the composition of the healthcare team within which you will be working. Most team members are premedical and other prehealth students volunteering their time in an apprenticeship program over a period of two years. These students are trained to help the physician operate the practice while learning the core principles of professionalism, health care delivery to patients with limited means, and holistic care. Since you have years of additional experience in medicine, you will be able to assist the preceptor by taking on a leadership role with these early career students and providing them with the knowledge and experience you have gained caring for patients. Leadership is important to residency programs (according to the 2021 NRMP Program Director Survey, over 65% of family medicine residency programs cited leadership experience as a factor used to make interview decisions) and this experience will allow you to communicate your role as a leader through your residency application.

During your experience, you will learn the following U.S. medical practices under the preceptor’s supervision:

• Taking patient histories.

• Performing exams.

• Presenting patients.

• Writing or entering clinic notes.

• Researching the literature to answer clinical questions at the point of care.

• Educating patients.

• Teaching other team members. Since he has many premedical students working in his office, there are many opportunities to teach.

• Spending time with other healthcare professionals (diabetes educator, acupuncturist, homeopathy) in the office to understand their roles and responsibilities.