Using a family practice preceptorship to teach clinical epidemiology.

Because physicians in training can benefit from an epidemiological approach to primary care practice, research, and education, educators are turning their attention to better methods and settings to teach preventive and epidemiological principles while cultivating an attitude for clinical research. This report describes the development of a clinical epidemiological problem studied in the context of a one-week family practice preceptorship. The project was designed to study the possible association between obesity and hypertension and to familiarize students with a common study design. Data from 393 case control pairs produced results of the same magnitude as that documented by formal, carefully controlled research studies. Students participated with dedication and excitement in the clinical application of relevant and practical epidemiologic and biostatistical tools in a clinical setting. Often difficult to comprehend concepts of interaction and confounding were clearly demonstrated using data derived from actual patients encountered during the preceptorship experience.