University of Pittsburgh
Combined Clinical Years

Advanced Clinical Skills
MS-3

April 26, 2010 - April 29, 2010
8 half-days

Donald Middleton, MD

Course Director
Donald Middleton, MD
Professor
Department of Family Medicine
middletondb@upmc.edu

John Mahoney, MD

Course Director
John Mahoney, MD
Associate Dean for Medical Education
mahoney@medschool.pitt.edu

Course Description

The Advanced Clinical Skills course (ACS) is designed to augment clerkship experiences across a broad range of topics, based on input from students and from clinical faculty.  ACS melds material from the first three years of medical school into a format akin to that of continuing medical education courses.  The course content includes Diagnostic Imaging, Cardiology Diagnostics, Advanced Clinical Procedures, Dermatology, Medical Informatics, and Medical Devices. 

In addition to the core sessions, each student selects three half-day electives. The elective offerings include Applied Clinical Pharmacology, Central Venous Cannulation Training, Clinical Skills Assessment Workshop, Disaster Medicine Essentials, Emergency Sonography, Medical Legal Concerns, Minimally Invasive Surgical Skills, Musculoskeletal Disorders, Obstetrics Emergencies, and Pathology for Generalists. Course sessions are conducted in small group and lecture formats, with a minimum of lecture time.

The overall goal of the course is for students to learn about key topics in clinical medicine at the midpoint of the clinical years.  This course is placed in the curriculum at the beginning of the 4th year, which is a unique teachable moment where students can benefit from focused instruction on topics which are considered important, but which may be beyond the level of the 3rd year curriculum. 

Specific objectives include preparing students to:

  1. observe and describe common dermatologic conditions.
  2. perform basic and specialized clinical procedures.
  3. effectively utilize diagnostic imaging and cardiology diagnostics in patient care.
  4. record information in and retrieve patient-specific information from a clinical information system. 
  5. understand the use and limitations of common medical devices.

Additional topic-specific learning objectives are associated with each elective session.

The 116 course faculty members are drawn from departments throughout the School of Medicine and UPMC.

Educational Methods

Lecture Simulation sessions Standardized patient sessions Skills sessions
Workshops Small-group cases Pre-class preparation exercises    

Evaluation

Evaluation for this course is based on attendance and participation in the course sessions.

Grading: This course is graded Satisfactory / Unsatisfactory.

Faculty Note

Course Director Donald B. Middleton, MD, is a recipient of the Kenneth E. Schuit Award, the Excellence in Education Award for Small Group Facilitator, and the Sheldon Adler Award for Innovation in Medical Education. Faculty member 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. Nine other course faculty members have been similarly recognized for teaching excellence by the School of Medicine and its students. In addition, the following faculty are members of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Academy of Master Educators: Course Director John Mahoney, MD; Michael L. Boninger, MD; Daniel Edelstone, MD; Andrea R. Fox, MD; Elmer Holzinger, MD; and William R. McIvor, MD.