A scoping review of undergraduate ambulatory care education

Background: Since a disproportionate amount of medical education still occurs in hospitals, there are concerns that medical school graduates are not fully prepared to deliver efficient and effective care in ambulatory settings to increasingly complex patients. Aims: To understand the current extent of scholarship in this area. Method: A scoping review was conducted by searching electronic databases and grey literature sources for articles published between 2001 and 2011 that identified key challenges and models of practice for undergraduate teaching of ambulatory care. Relevant articles were charted and assigned key descriptors, which were mapped onto Canadian recommendations for the future of undergraduate medical education. Results: Most of the relevant articles originated in the United States, Australia, or the United Kingdom. Recommendations related to faculty development, learning contexts and addressing community needs had numerous areas of scholarly activity while scholarly activity was lacking for recommendations related to inter-professional practice, the use of technology, preventive medicine, and medical leadership. Conclusions: Systems should be established to support education and research collaboration between medical schools to develop best practices and build capacity for change. This method of scoping the field can be applied using best practices and recommendations in other countries.