Physician’s Core I

Medical Interviewing

Duration:  9 weeks; August – October

Course Content:  History-taking skills

The purpose of the medical interview, as outlined by Bird and Cole in “The Medical Interview,” is to

1)              Establish a relationship with the patient

2)              Hear the patient’s story and

3)              Assist the patient with their problems

Our emphasis this year is on the first two functions of the interview, learning how to build the relationship, and how to gather the information that will assist us in managing the patient’s problems.

The medical interview is one of the most complex procedures you will learn as a physician.  The interview is the source of the majority of our diagnoses so the quality of information gathered is very important.  The goal of this course is to give you some basic tools which will enable you to be successful in all the functions of the interview.  In a few months this will become very important as you begin your preceptorships.

One of the first sessions in this course will focus on setting the stage for the interview, eliciting the patient’s story in their own words and establishing the relationship.  Subsequent sessions will introduce the focused questions that further define the patient’s story and will look at eliciting the patient’s perspective of their illness and why this data is so important.  Other sessions in the course will allow immersion into cultural competency and will ensure that students develop the knowledge, attitudes, and skills to begin their path towards the delivery of culturally and linguistically competent care. Case-based videotapes, role-playing, and exercises will be utilized.  Reflective writing is a key part of this.

Goal: To train medical students to perform a thorough and accurate medical history in a professional and patient centered manner while meeting the needs of diverse populations.  By having a greater self-awareness, the student will ultimately be better prepared to provide high-quality care to a diverse population.  By increasing the student’s awareness of health disparities, he/she, as a future provider, can have a more active role in the elimination of these disparities.

Ethnic, Humanism and Professionalism (EHP)

Duration:  8 weeks; October – December

Course Content:  Ethics, Humanism, Professionalism, and EBM

Ethics, Humanism and Professionalism is designed to give an introduction to biomedical ethics, and to the responsibilities and expectation of the medical profession. The goals are to:

• Enable students to develop a foundation of knowledge about ethical decision-making and the required skills to make ethical decisions that will arise in clinical practice.
• Develop an awareness of the patient as a person.
• Develop an awareness of oneself as a humanistic professional in relation to patients and within the healthcare system.
• Develop skills to become a competent practitioner with a professional duty to lifelong learning.

Physical Examination

Duration:  11 weeks; January – April

Course Content:  Preceptorship Program

Goal:  To train medical students to perform a basic physical exam in a professional and patient centered manner. Students will work collaboratively during small group session on a TBL case.  Each week’s case is a clinical vignette designed to demonstrate the importance of the physical examination in patient care, and helps to teach and reinforce important PE concepts in an active-learning format.

In addition to working on a case, students will have the opportunity to practice the physical examination on each other with a facilitator supervising the group. 

Physician’s Core II

Advanced Communications Skills (ACS)

Duration:  8 weeks; August – October

Course Content:  Psychiatric Interviews,

The Advanced Communication Skills (ACS) course is designed to review aspects of the doctor-patient relationship that can affect a doctor’s success in his/her profession. The development of satisfying and effective therapeutic relationships, and lower malpractice risks through excellent communication.

Advanced Physical Diagnosis (APD)

Duration:  16 weeks; October – March

Course Content: BLS, Hospital Preceptorship:  specialty specific clinical rotations

The Advanced Physical Diagnosis course will provide a variety of didactic and clinical experiences that will help to prepare you for your clinical clerkships. The clinical experiences will allow you to improve your history-taking ability and develop a higher level of skill in the physical examination. You will see patients during pediatric and hospital preceptorships and also during clinical teaching sessions. Each student will learn how to perform gynecologic and urologic examinations and will acquire new skills in phlebotomy, injections & IV placement. Each student will also be certified in BLS. The overall goal of the APD course is to make you more confident and proficient in starting your 3rd year clinical clerkships.