The Urgent Care Clinic: An Underutilized Effective Learning Space for Residents and Medical Students

Urgent care (UC) medicine is an expanding clinical field and the common conditions seen in UC settings are applicable to many medical specialties. However, the incorporation of UC medicine into academic medical training is limited. We aimed to demonstrate that exposure to clinical UC medicine allows residents and students to achieve competency across multiple specialty domains, making it an ideal learning space. The Denver Health Urgent Care Elective is offered to residents through the Internal Medicine Residency Program at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Residents rotate to two urgent care sites where they work various shifts while completing a curricular passport. Overall, residents rate this elective a 2.74 out of 3.0 for the overall quality of the rotation. Comments include a good diversity of patients and clinical presentations, and excellent quality of teaching. In conclusion, UC settings add unique value to traditional academic medical training sites.