Ambulatory Component of the Internal Medicine Clerkship

Essentials for Students

Basic Requirements For The Clerkship

• Arrive on time to all assigned clinical sessions. What to expect at your clinical site.
• Be present and participate in each classroom activity. All students in the ambulatory rotation meet at Yale Monday and Thursday mornings (see Schedule with times and locations of activities). Students with their general internal medicine site in Greenwich may remain at that site on Thursday morning.
• Lead a small group seminar - Student-Faculty Rounds once during the rotation.
• Obtain the required Clinical skills certifications in the Student Record Book.
• Present a patient at morning report on your designated day.
• Return the completed visit note evaluation form at the end of the clerkship located in the Student Record Book.
• Complete the recommended online SIMPLE casework.
• Complete the Patient Log in the Student Record Book
• Complete the end-of-clerkship online examination.
• Complete evaluations of your clinical sites and preceptors at the end of the clerkship.

How You Will Be Evaluated

Your final grade in the clerkship will be based on the following:

• Written evaluations of your clinical performance will be completed by your general medicine and subspecialty preceptors.
• Skill Certifications (pass/fail)
• Visit Note Evaluation Forms
• Student Faculty Rounds
• Class Attendance and participation

In calculating your overall grade a weight of about 60% will be assigned to evaluations from clinical preceptors and a weight of about 40% will be assigned to classroom participation and other written exercises.

In addition, all students are required to take the end-of-clerkship examination. Your clerkship transcript will reflect that you took the examination. Although your score will not count towards your grade in the clerkship, your score will be available online through Exam Master for use by you and your advisors in planning future study and learning priorities. A minimum score of 60% is considered passing. Anyoe who receives a score lower than 60% must see the Clerkship Director for remediation.

How You Will Evaluate The Clerkship

To pass this clerkship, you must turn in an evaluation form. To be eligible for honors, evaluations must be completed within 72 hours of completing the clerkship. The form asks for your opinions about classroom activities, the clerkship organization, and your clinical preceptors.

The information you supply will be used immediately to make revisions in our teaching methods and the curriculum. We are collecting it not to know whether the clerkship or preceptors are "good" or "bad", but to identify problems and formulate solutions. Our preceptors and conference leaders are invested in becoming better teachers, but they need your help.

Self-Directed Learning

You may happily note one major distinction between hospital-based practice and office-based practice: offices generally close in the evening. The evening, however, is when many general internists write notes, make hospital rounds, and do patient-directed reading. Most internists are on call several nights per week. You, too, will probably be writing some notes in the evening and rounding. Generally, however, you will get home for dinner and sleep.

For you, the uncluttered evenings will be a time to read about your patients, research questions that arise during the day, prepare for case conferences, complete selected online SIMPLE cases, and prepare for student-faculty rounds. Preceptors have been specifically asked to look for evidence that you have read articles and books between clinic sessions. You are encouraged to use the evenings and other free time to build your knowledge of internal medicine and learn from your patients.