• Sunny D Smith, Michelle L Johnson, Natalie Rodriguez, Christine Moutier, and Ellen Beck.
• Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0696, USA. sdsmith@ucsd.edu
• Fam Med. 2012 Oct 1; 44 (9): 646-9.

Background And ObjectivesMany medical schools have student-run free clinics (SRFCs), yet their educational value has not been well studied. We performed a one-time cross-sectional survey to assess medical student perceptions of the educational value of an SRFC at their institution.MethodsThe authors designed and validated a survey instrument including six statements on a 5-point Likert-scale. The questionnaire was distributed from February through May 2010 to all students enrolled at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine as part of a larger yearly, anonymous, internet-based survey regarding their experiences at the institution.ResultsThe response rate was 66.5% with 347 of 522 eligible students participating. Ninety percent agreed or strongly agreed that the SRFC was a valuable educational experience, mean score: 4.51 on a scale of 5. Eighty-two percent agreed or strongly agreed that the teaching was excellent, mean score: 4.23. Students agreed or strongly agreed that the SRFC improved attitudes toward working with underserved patients (72%, mean score 3.99), helped students stay connected to sense of purpose, (71%, mean score 3.98), improved overall sense of well-being (67%, mean score 3.88), and influenced their decision to come to UCSD (52%, mean score 3.37). Eighty-four percent of qualitative responses in a free text comment box were positive (46 of 55).ConclusionsTo the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to report the perceptions of an entire medical student body of a SRFC at their institution. The majority felt that this was a valuable educational experience.

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