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Surgery Subinternship

The surgery subinternship is designed to help students acquire the cognitive, technical and communication skills needed for the first year of residency, regardless of the specialty. While the clinical experiences encountered during the rotation primarily involve surgical disease, the rotation itself emphasizes the multidisciplinary and collaborative nature of the modern approach to patient care that ensures safety and optimizes outcomes. Students are expected to assume the same responsibilities and tasks as first-year residents.

The subinternship features hands-on experiences in these clinical tracks:

  • Surgical oncology
  • Colorectal surgery
  • Trauma and acute care surgery
  • Minimally invasive surgery

The rotation also provides three hours a week of protected time for educational activities such as case-based professor rounds and learning procedural skills under supervision. Interactive exercises such as mock-pages, web-based modules, reading assignments and short projects provide students with well-rounded experiences and skills in a high-yield, energetic and fun atmosphere. 

 Program Objectives (Competencies)

 Sub-Internship Goals & Objectives

At the end of the Sub-Internship students will be able to do the following:

  • Take primary responsibility for patients and share information effectively with patients and their families.
  • Prioritize and organize work efficiently; demonstrate time management skills to coordinate care at the level of an intern simultaneously for multiple patients.
  • Function as a "team player" with residents, attendings, nurses, and ancillary staff.
  • Coordinate care of patients throughout the continuum of their hospitalization, including:
    • Anticipate patient care needs and address changing priorities
    • Coordinate care and communicate information effectively at the time of admission, in handovers, with consultants and when planning discharges.
  • Apply evidence-based medicine (EBM) principles

Goal:

The goal for the surgery subinternship rotation is to provide you with the essential cognitive, behavioral and procedural skills to prepare you for your future role as a trusted, competent and safe interns regardless of the specialty you choose for your career.

In this rotation we emphasize the clinical application of medical knowledge within the context of actual patient care and help you increase the clinical autonomy and your sense of patient ownership

Find comprehensive Surgery Subinternship Goals and Objectives.

 Assessment & EPAs

Clerkship Assessment & Grading Policy

Section I: Components of the grade

Your clerkship grade will be derived from the following components:

Assessment and grading information
Component % (or points) towards final grade
Faculty/resident clinical performance assessment        40%
Mock Pages 20%
Simulation performance- ATLS (EPA 10), Handoff (EPA8) Informed Consent (EPA11) 20%
Procedural skills- Suturing, FAST exam (EPA 12)   10%
Completing clerkship log/EPA app 5%
Submitting NETS report/help prepare M&M  5%    

 

Clinical Score: (40%)

This is a sum of grades provided by faculty and residents. Total score calculation will take into consideration the grades assigned, as well as the narrative comments provided with special emphasis on the following EPA: 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 13.

Based on the clerkship director’s assessment of rating patterns of faculty and residents, as well as other factors (e.g. professionalism issues) the clerkship director may modify the final clinical grade.

 

Mock Pages: (20%)

This is a sum of score achieved during the mock page encounters conducted by the nurse educators based on management decisions and communication skills. 

 

Simulation performance- ATLS (EPA 10), Handoff (EPA8) Informed Consent (EPA11): (20%)

Achieving or exceeding level 3 of entrustment e.g. “Can perform with indirect supervision.“

 

Procedural skills (Suturing, FAST exam): (10%)

Achieving mastery level performance on both tasks.

 

Completing clerkship log/EPA app: (5%)

Self-explanatory.

 

Submitting NETS report/help prepare M&M: (5%)

Let the residents help you submit a NETS report regarding a patient care issue. As an alternative you can help the residents prepare for M&M by researching literature

    

Grading and Assessment Information
Grading Scale* 
Honors   85-100
High Pass   71-84.99
Pass   60-70.9
Requires extra time**      Below 60
Fail***           See below

Section II: Calculation of final grades

 

* When a numerical score falls closely between two grades, the clerkship director will evaluate all components of the student’s performance to determine the final grade.

** Occasionally a clerkship director will decide a student needs additional time on the clerkship to meet the objectives. The amount of time needed will vary. In this case, the grade will be “Pass” and the number of additional weeks needed will be noted on the transcript.

*** A grade of fail will be given in the following circumstances.

  • Being unable to meet the clinical requirements of the clerkship after completing additional time twice.
  • An egregious professionalism issue.


Honors student is one who:

  • Consistently performs thorough work-ups on even the most complicated patients.  This includes eliciting pertinent information unprompted, and being able to clearly present the cases in a concise and logical manner.
  • Demonstrates comprehensive physical examination skills.  They should have the proper techniques and be able to perform a focused abdominal examination. 
  • Formulates a well thought out and broad but relevant differential diagnosis and thorough treatment plan, even on complex surgical patients.
  • Reads independently and uses the literature and point of care decision support resources ahead of presentation to support their plans and their thinking.
  • Is independent and proactive in the execution of their patient care duties.
  • Consistently demonstrates initiative in caring for their patients.
  • Assimilate well in the care team and seen as dependable and trustworthy to perform assigned tasks without prompting.
  • Is professional, courteous and has excellent interpersonal skills with consistent strong work ethics.

High Pass student is one who:

  • Performs thorough work-ups on common, patients.  This includes eliciting pertinent information, and being able to clearly present the cases in a concise and logical manner.  May require occasional prompting.
  • Formulates a relevant differential diagnosis and thorough treatment plan on all routine and some/ most surgically complicated cases.  They may occasionally need direction and prompting to reach their goal on complex cases.  But they take the initiative to do so.
  • Demonstrates above average physical examination skills.  They are thorough with the techniques and are able to perform a focused examination.  They may occasionally miss findings.
  • Consistently formulates a well thought out differential on all of the common diagnoses, and occasionally on the complex cases.
  • Shows that they are reading independently and have an above average knowledge base in neurology.
  • Consistently demonstrates initiative in caring for their patients and is independent and proactive in the execution of their daily patient care duties.  They may occasionally need direction in performing their duties.
  • Is professional, courteous and has above average interpersonal skills with very good work ethics.

 
Pass student is one who:

  • Produces complete work-ups and elicits pertinent information on most routine cases. 
  • Is able to formulate a relevant differential diagnosis and treatment plan on routine cases.  They may occasionally need guidance and prompting.
  • Demonstrates average physical examination skills.  They should be familiar with the examination techniques, and should be able to perform a focused examination most of the time, occasionally needing guidance.
  • Is able to formulate a well thought out differential diagnosis on routine cases, occasionally needing guidance.
  • Demonstrates that they are reading and have an average knowledge base.
  • Is an independent worker, but may need prompting and direction to understand their daily duties.
  • Is professional and courteous with average interpersonal skills and good work ethics.

 
A student who requires extra time is one who:

  • Is unable to complete work-ups or elicit pertinent information on routine surgical cases. 
  • Is unable to formulate a relevant differential diagnosis and treatment plan on routine cases, even with prompting and guidance.
  • Is unable to perform physical examination and is unfamiliar with the proper examination techniques.
  • Demonstrates an extremely poor knowledge base.
  • Is unable to perform daily clinical care duties, despite regular prompting and guidance.
  • Demonstrates unethical or unprofessional behavior.  Other professional grounds for failing include dishonesty, unexcused absences or poor work ethics including willful negligence in patient care duties.

 

 Required Clerkship Clinical Experiences (Clerklog) & Tools

 Policies & Procedures

Contacts

Nabil Issa
Director

Jason Burke  
Coordinator
Phone: 312-926-9411