Administration Basic Sciences Clinical Sciences Centers of Excellence
 

Goals and Objectives

Objectives: The Surgery Clerkship is designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills relevant to the evaluation and management of patients with surgical diseases that all physicians should possess.   It aims to familiarize the medical student with the types of diseases surgeons commonly encounter, orient them to the work-up and differential diagnoses of surgical disease, and management. A goal of the Surgical Clerkship is to equip students who will seek careers in other medical fields, particularly primary care, to have a better knowledge basis about what a surgeon does and what potential future types of disease entities may be referred to a surgeon. In addition, it aims to emphasize teamwork, patient responsibility, and professional behavior as essential qualities for young physicians to develop.

Based on this philosophy, we have adopted a set of ‘Clinical Goals’ we expect medical students to exercise during the Clerkship. These will be monitored thru ‘competency cards’ electronically using the electronic software E-value.net (Minneapolis, MN). Furthermore, we have defined a set of ‘Core Clinical Conditions’  and  'Junior Skilled Comptency Milestones' we expect medical students to encounter during the Surgery Clerkship and have instituted mechanisms to assure that these are met during their 12-week rotation. 

Clinical Goals: All students should be capable of: 

  • Performing a complete physical examination for the areas of head and neck, musculoskeletal and abdomen. 
  • Demonstrating an adequate knowledge of surgical diseases ·       
  • Performing both Complete and Focused patient workups and presentations 
  • Displaying professional behavior and functioning effectively as a member of a health care team.   

Core Clinical Conditions to be encountered during the Surgery Clerkship:  

  • Abdominal pain – Acute abdomen  
  • Breast masses – Benign and cancer        
  • Colon, benign – Diverticulitis, Inflammatory bowel disease              
  • End of life care         
  • Biliary tract disease – Gallbladder & bile duct diseae·       
  • Cardiothoracic Surgery 
  • Hernias – Groin & ventral  
  • Nutrition       
  • Post-operative care           
  • Surgical endocrine disease        
  • Surgical esophageal/gastric disease        
  • Surgical liver disease                
  • Transplant        
  • Trauma/Critical care       
  • Vascular disease – Arterial & venous 

 Demonstrated Competency Milestones (Required)

  • Abdominal Exam-Acutely ill patient
  • Patient Presentation-Acute illness
  • History Taking/HPI-Acutely ill patient
  • Simple Suturing and Wound Care with Sterile Technique- Patient

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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