Medicine Clerkship Goals and Objectives

The focus of junior medicine is the care of patients with complex medical and psychosocial problems. You will take a complete history, conduct a thorough and accurate physical exam, take into consideration complex psycho-social issues, formulate a problem list, construct a relevant differential diagnosis, and along with your team begin to manage the daily details of the care of your patients.

At the completion of the 12-week medicine clerkship, every student will have achieved the following. For selected items, there are relevant links.

1) Skills/Activities/Experiences

2) Knowledge

During the 12 week medicine clerkship, the student will encounter patients with the following medical conditions or symptoms. Depending on the specific disease/symptom, the student will learn to describe the common causes of the condition and/or the relevant differential diagnosis, and/or a logical diagnostic plan and/or the appropriate initial management. For selected topics, there are relevant links that either provide the most important learning objectives for the particular disease/condition or most relevant differential diagnoses for the symptom. There are 2-3 case conferences a day that will provide adjunctive learning for many of these topics. However, the primary method of learning on junior medicine is caring directly for patients.

Specific diseases/conditions

Symptoms

3) Additional Objectives:

In addition to the specific knowledge and skills objectives listed above, students are expected to demonstrate competence and ongoing growth in the following areas:

Self-Directed Learning. Each student should be able to

• Obtain updated information from key sources on issues relevant to the management of adult patients.
• Perform a computerized literature search to find articles pertinent to a clinical question.

Professional and Ethical Aspects of Care. As evidence of the presence of attitudes, perspectives, and commitment appropriate to the practicing physician, each student will

• Demonstrate a commitment to caring for all patients, regardless of gender, race, socioeconomic status, intellect, sexual orientation, or ability to pay.
• Demonstrate honesty and truthfulness, including accuracy in communication of clinical information.
• Take initiative in caring for your patients, ie. go beyond just doing what is asked of you; begin to think independently about your patients’ needs.
• Be punctual, dependable, and appropriately dedicated to clerkship activities.
• Maintain an appearance consistent with the tradition of the profession and the expectations of patients.
• Be tolerant of the opinions of others, able to receive constructive criticism gracefully, and adaptable to changing situations and expectations.

4) Specialty Medicine

• Learn how to be an effective consultant.
• Understand the management of chronic conditions and symptoms
• Learn how to take a focused history and physical
• Gain exposure to different aspects of medicine (inpatient, outpatient, procedural)
• Develop a more detailed approach and knowledge base regarding specific aspects of medicine

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