Internal Medicine Clerkship Educational Objectives

Knowledge and Lifelong Learning

1. Upon completion of the Internal Medicine Clerkship, the student will know the fundamentals of adult care that all graduates of BSOM should know, regardless of their subsequent careers. The categories of knowledge to be emphasized include:

1. The care of healthy adults;

2. The evaluation of patients’ presenting clinical problems, including:
   Chest pain, Dyspnea, Joint pain, GI Bleed, Jaundice, Renal failure, Delirium, Fever, Anemia

3. The diagnosis and management of patients with acute and chronic diseases, including:
   Heart failure, Venous thromboembolism, Hypertension, Dementia, Stroke, Diabetes Mellitus, Pneumonia, Common Cancers

2. Upon completion of the Internal Medicine Clerkship, the student will be able to demonstrate the systematic approach the care of adult patients (the “methods” of Internal Medicine). These emphasize:

   1. Sound skills in gathering clinical findings through the medical history and physical examination;

   2. Sensible interpretation of clinical findings and test results;

   3. Robust diagnostic reasoning;

   4. Sensible therapeutic decision-making;

   5. Presentation of patient information and plans orally and in written documentation.

3. Upon completion of the Internal Medicine Clerkship the student will be able to demonstrate effective skills in navigating the medical literature to find answers to clinical care questions, which serves both responsible patient care and effective lifelong learning. These skills include:

1. Formulation of a focused ‘foreground’ clinical question;

2. Search of the relevant knowledge resources to find evidence that addresses the questions;

3. Critical appraisal of the retrieved evidence, making judgments about its validity, importance, and applicability to the clinical situation;

4. Integration of this retrieved and appraised evidence, along with other knowledge, into sound clinical decisions;

5. Summarizing this episode of evidence-based learning into a concise synopsis that can be placed into a learning portfolio.

 
 Interpersonal and Communication

4. Upon completion of the Internal Medicine Clerkship, the student will be able to establish professional relationships with, and communicate effectively with patients and their families, including patients from diverse cultural, ethnic, socioeconomic backgrounds.

5. Upon completion of the Internal Medicine Clerkship, the student will be able to establish professional relationships with, and communicate effectively with other health care team members. Interpersonal and Communication

6. Upon completion of the Internal Medicine Clerkship, the student will be able to work effectively with the broad, interdisciplinary team involved in patient care. This will include knowledge of the complimentary skills various team members bring to patient care and how to access them appropriately.

 
Professionalism, Advocacy, and Personal Growth

7. Upon completion of the Internal Medicine Clerkship, the student will demonstrate the ability to:

1. Act with honesty and integrity while maintaining ethical duties to patients and others

2. Relate to patient care in a manner that is dependable, dedicated and punctual

3. Act with patience, altruism and equanimity

8. Upon completion of the Internal Medicine clerkship, the student will demonstrate the ability to acquire and soundly manage knowledge, including:

1. Acknowledging when they don’t know something;

2. Asking questions of others, where and when appropriate to do so;

3. Carrying out reading directed by patient circumstances or other important topics;

4. Effectively managing knowledge resources of different kinds, including those for ‘background’ and for ‘foreground’ knowledge

5. Sharing the yield of these learning efforts with others on the team, i.e. teaching.

 


9. Upon completion of the Internal Medicine Clerkship, the student will demonstrate the ability to seek out and listen to feedback on performance, accept it positively, and respond to it constructively by improving performance.