When students run the clinic, who’s watching? A call for a framework to evaluate student-run clinics
Abstract
Student-run clinics (SRCs), in which medical and health professions students take responsibility for operational and logistics management of charitable clinics,2 are a powerful expression of service-based learning: students hone clinical and administrative skills while communities receive essential medical services that might otherwise be unavailable. Yet over the past 20 years, these clinics have begun globalising2–5 and increasing in complexity.5 This is happening within a landscape of limited evidence,5 6 growing concerns about ethics and substandard care,7–13 and a lack of clear standards and accountability.7 Together, these features raise an inescapable question: when students run the clinic, who’s watching?
Fields of Study & Subjects
Interprofessional Education and Collaboration
Innovations in Medical Education
Empathy and Medical Education
Publication details
- Journal / source
- BMJ Quality & Safety
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 358–362
- Publication date
- 6 January 2026
- Language
- EN