UF medical students build long-term connections with patients through continuity clerkships
Students attend yearlong clinics to develop patient-provider relationships and work with mentors
July 24, 2025 — The final two years of medical school are a whirlwind of new experiences as soon-to-be-physicians rotate through specialties, becoming familiar with the skills and nuances that come with practicing in dozens of fields of medicine.
As third-year medical students at the University of Florida College of Medicine alternate between different groups of care teams and patients, they will now have the chance to dive deep into one specialty, allowing them to develop relationships with patients over time and receive long-term mentorship from clinical faculty and staff.
Ryan Nall, M.D. '09
This spring, as UF students entered their third year of medical school, they began attending block rotations in addition to having one clinical clerkship they return to over the course of 12 months. These continuity clerkships started in May after several years of preparation at the college, to ensure they would be feasible for the students and faculty involved.
“I view it as an educational home,” said Ryan Nall, M.D. ’09, an associate professor in the Department of Medicine and the inaugural director of UF’s continuity clerkship program. “It’s the place you come back to throughout the year where you’re able to develop that sense of consistency with patients, your preceptor and your clinical site, including the administrative staff and advanced practice providers.”
Continuity of care is an important aspect of medicine that is rewarding for both the clinician and the patient, Nall said. Most medical programs use traditional block models to introduce students to core specialties including surgery, family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry and neurology before graduation. The blocks can last anywhere from six to eight weeks.
“The challenges with the traditional block model are creating space for a student to develop a patient-doctor relationship over time and continuity with a preceptor — a faculty member who knows you and who can really push you to become a better student and better future physician,” said Nall, who is also a preceptor in internal medicine.
Some of the specialties the students are exploring through their continuity clerkships include areas like family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine and obstetrics and gynecology, neurology, surgery and psychiatry. The continuity clerkship is pass/fail, which Nall said emphasizes the growth mindset of the students as they develop skills and relationships over time.
In the couple of months since the continuity clinics began, some students have already seen the same patients multiple times, Nall said, such as during surgery in the operating room and again at a postoperative follow-up appointment.
“Over time, this is going to help students understand the importance of developing trust with our patients, and it gives them the opportunity to reflect on what is helpful in building that relationship, or what detracts from it,” he said. “It also allows them to see how their decisions play out over time, and that is really critical to improving our practice as physicians.”
