Medical education: a required clerkship in rehabilitation and chronic disease.

For seven years the University of Rochester Medical School has required a four-week clerkship in rehabilitation and chronic disease as part of the fourth year curriculum. Students have a choice of clerkships ranging from traditional physical medicine and rehabilitation to chronic disease experience in several other specialties. Data have been systematically collected for five years from the students in regard to the following: (1) rating of this clerkship relative to all other required clerkships for educational value; (2) opinion whether the clerkship should continue to be required; (3) value to other students with similar career goals; (4) attitudes towards rehabilitation and changes therein resulting from the clerkship experience; and (5) open-ended comments about the clerkship. Response rate to the questionnaire has been about 80%. The purpose of the questionnaire was to aid in improving the clerkship and to determine the settings where students would respond most positively to a chronic disease experience. Nearly half of the respondents felt the clerkship should continue to be required, and an overwhelming majority felt it would be valuable to students with career interests similar to theirs.