Background and issues: Internships in private family medicine practices offer students the opportunity to develop the skills necessary for the outpatient care. Clinical teachers who welcome students in their ambulatory clinical practice setting, must develop specific educational tools to deal with the difficulties encountered during supervision. They can thus participate in the training of medical succession in the field of family medicine while developing an educational posture that will help them in the management of their dual role of clinician and teacher. Educational training programs for clinicians must adapt to the realities of their practice. Indeed, clinical activity in the office involves time and structure constraints that have consequences on the form and content of the teaching delivered.

Objective: To report on two teams (research in medical education and pedagogical training) from the Institut universitaire de médecine de famille et de l’enfance (IuMFE) at the Faculty of Medicine in Geneva, Switzerland, that have developed a training model for teaching clinicians welcoming final year students in their outpatient practice setting, considering the specificities of this teaching context, and pooling their knowledge and experiences according to a methodology inspired by the principles of collaborative action research.

Methods: The implementation of this new training model has come up against the pandemic reality, forcing the various actors - clinicians, trainers, and researchers - to adapt to the new constraints and limits.

Results: Since 2023, this training model is still relevant; it is enriched as it is being practiced, it is appreciated by the participants and it is now the cornerstone of the training programme for clinical teachers in private practice.

Conclusion: Pedagogical quality circles provide teaching clinicians with pedagogical tools that focus on their needs and are directly applicable in their teaching field, despite social distances.