What “Clinician-Based” Means To You

A lot of rumors have been spreading about the transition away from the “intern-based” and toward “clinician-based” clinic models. While it’s fun for me to hear some of the rumors, it really does represent a deeper anxiety from you as students who are coming into the clinic system (and especially those who are already interns). 

The bottom line is that the clinician-based model will be better for everyone involved: students, patients, doctors and administrators. Yes, there will probably be a little pain in the transition, but it won’t last forever. So, how will the new clinic setup be different from the current one, and what does each change mean to you?

• Patients assigned to doctors – starting in January, all patients will eventually end up being “assigned” to a particular doctor. That doctor is the primary decision-maker in the patient’s care, and with an ever-revolving door of interns providing care as they move through the system, this will mean better continuity of care for patients. When you take over a patient’s case, you will be doing so in an environment where the doctor knows a lot about the patient, and this will mean an easier transition for you. 
• Students assigned to doctors – as it stands, the type of supervision we have over your work is not ideal. This new system will mean that the majority of your work is supervised by one doctor. That means that doctor will be very aware of your strengths and your weaknesses, and more importantly, will be able to work on them with you. By building on your strengths and identifying weaknesses to work on, setting goals, etc, you will have a better clinic experience and should walk the graduation stage more confident and with a better skill set. 

In pragmatic terms, you will work either at Brookside or Overland Park, and you’ll schedule your patients in the time slots available with the doctor you’ve been assigned. Doctors have been paired up, so if you need to schedule in a time your primary doc isn’t available, you’ll schedule with the secondary doctor. That way you still have all day, every day, available to see patients, but you won’t have 20 different people supervising your work in a very disjointed and discombobulated way. Instead, you’ll still gain input and insight from the same 1-2 doctors for most of your work.

Finally, it means a lot more supervision over your work. Before you start moaning and groaning, that doesn’t necessarily mean a bad thing. Supervision when you are a newbie is good. At this point in your career, you don’t even know what you don’t know! We’re here to make sure you learn some things and walk out of school with some good habits, so greater supervision will make you more accountable and will enhance the quality of your work, guaranteed. You are going to be the biggest beneficiary to this new system, so take a deep breath, relax, and enjoy the process.