Surgery Clerkship

This eight-week clerkship is designed to train students to recognize physical conditions and disease processes that represent surgical emergencies, to provide an understanding of when surgical consultation is appropriate for patients and to introduce the student to the principles of surgery as practiced by all surgeons regardless of specialty. The clerkship is administered by the clerkship directors as an interdepartmental effort of the departments of Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery and Urology.

During the clerkship, the student will have a four-week rotation in abdominal surgery and a four-week, in-depth "selective" subspecialty experience. Students can be assigned to NMH, Lurie Children's Hospital or the VA during the clerkship.

The didactic curriculum that supplements the clinical experiences includes a series of presentations on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. There will be interactive sessions, physical exam sessions, case-based sessions and lectures. Students also participate in faculty-led seminars that cover topics affecting surgeons in all specialties. Small-group skills sessions are led by our nurse educator during the clerkship. Complementary experiences include a suture and tubes and drains session during orientation, an OR Simulation during orientation, IV/ABI skills instruction, an online learning module for order writing and a discussion on ethics in surgery.

Clerkship Goals & Objectives

At the end of the four-week experience, students will be able to do the following:

Demonstrate proficient history-taking and physical examination skills
Develop and discuss appropriate patient care plans
Work up and manage common postoperative complications
Develop appropriate management plans for patient complaints
Properly counsel patients and obtain proper surgical consent
Present a clinical case scenario reflective of adaptive thinking
Demonstrate professional communication skills utilizing SBAR methodology
Demonstrate skills in appropriately handing off care of patients
Behave with honesty, integrity, respect and compassion toward all patients, families, allied health professionals and colleagues
Ask for and give appropriate and timely feedback to team members in a non-confrontational or non-defensive manner; demonstrate ability to create a well-articulated plan for improvement
Perform appropriate wound care for patients
Demonstrate mastery level performance on knot tying, suturing, chest tube insertion (mannequin), central line insertion (mannequin), performing the FAST exam