Clinical Experiences 1
MS-1

Clinical Experiences 1 (January – May 2010)
12 half-days

Course Director
Shanta M. Zimmer, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Division of General Internal Medicine
zimmersm2@upmc.edu

Course Director
Laura M. Panko, MD
Assistant Professor
Department of Pediatrics
laura.panko@chp.edu

Course Director
Yaqin Xia, MD, MHPE
Assistant Professor
Department of Family Medicine
xiay@upmc.edu

Course Description

The Clinical Experiences Course involves 3 placements for one month each (4 sessions): the first is in a primary care office; the second is in another primary care facility or in a specialty clinic, based on the student’s preference; and the third is a service-learning experience with a community agency or public health project. Each student also participates in a specialized session at a substance-abuse treatment program.

The goals of the course are:

1. to participate in the provision of medical care in the setting of a physician’s office.
2. to integrate skills and knowledge from other courses in the Introduction to Patient Care Block.
3. to appreciate the human and social context of medical care delivery such as cultural sensitivity and health literacy.
4. to observe the impact of health care financing on medical practice.

More specific objectives of this course are for students:

1. under the preceptor’s guidance, to practice taking a medical history and to apply recently acquired skills in the outpatient setting.
2. to learn to establish a relationship with patients and to formulate appropriate preventative medical interventions.
3. to correlate physicians comments regarding satisfaction in a patient encounter with observation of relationship-building skills.
4. to document, in a record (log) of patient contacts, both positive and negative behaviors that will affect the way students care for patients.
5. to assess patients’ health literacy level and provide culturally and linguistically appropriate patient education and counseling.
6. to design a patient handout/health education brochure on a topic of the student’s choice.
7. to elicit the physician’s and office staff’s descriptions of third-party payer experiences and how they have changed medical practice.
8. to note the differences between medical practice (caring for those who come to the office) vs. the broader issue of health care delivery (who can and cannot access health care).
9. to know how to access community resources and options for those who are medically uninsured or underinsured.

More than 100 physicians serve as preceptors for the primary care and specialty clinical experiences. Forty-two community agencies and public health projects are available for the service-learning experiences.

Educational Methods

	Preceptorship		Patient write-up		Community encounter /community-based work		Case studyr
	Patient care activities		Clinical skills development		Independent study

Curricular Themes

Access to quality health services, Child health/healthcare, Communication skills, Community health, Educational and community-based programs, Geriatric health/healthcare, Health care financing, Health communication, HIV, Human development, Medical ethics, Mental health and mental disorders, Patient health education, Preventive medicine, Public health infrastructure, Substance abuse

Evaluation

Evaluation is based on preceptor assessment, the patient handout/health education brochure, and the course final examination.

Grading: Clinical Experiences 1 comprises approximately 43% of the Introduction to Patient Care Block, Section 2. Clinical Experiences 2 comprises approximately 43% of the Introduction to Patient Care Block, Section 3. Grading for each block section is Honors, Satisfactory, Unsatisfactory.

Faculty Note

Thuy Bui, MD, is a recipient of the Donald S. Fraley Award for Medical Student Mentoring. David Eibling, MD, is a recipient of the Kenneth E. Schuit Award and the Clinical Golden Apple Award. Elmer Holzinger, MD, is a recipient of the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award, the Donald S. Fraley Award for Medical Student Mentoring, and the Clerkship Preceptor of the Year Award. Robert H. Potter, MD, is a recipient of the Award for Excellence in Clinical Precepting in Family Medicine. Petronilla Vaulx-Smith, MD, PhD, is a recipient of the Sheldon Adler Award for Innovation in Medical Education. In addition, Dr. Eibling, Dr. Holzinger, and Dr. Vaulx-Smith are members of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Academy of Master Educators.