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Clerkship Program - Goals & Objectives

Overarching Goals

Upon completion of the Pediatric Clerkship, students will:

  1. Be comfortable interacting with parents and pediatric patients of all ages, treating all with respect and courtesy.
  2. Understand the importance of preventive medicine in working with children and families together to promote maximal childhood health.
  3. Know how to perform an age appropriate well child history and physical exam.
  4. Understand the patterns of normal childhood growth and development.
  5. Know how to perform a focused history and physical exam for common acute pediatric illnesses.
  6. Recognize common diseases and conditions of childhood, formulate appropriate differential diagnoses and treatment plans for common conditions.
  7. Present patient care data in appropriately organized written and oral formats.
  8. Develop an understanding of the child and families’ perspectives of being cared for within our health care system.
  9. Recognize the impact of social, cultural and environmental factors on the health of young people.

Educational Objectives

Patient Care (Problem Solving and Clinical Skills)

Students are expected to provide patient care that is compassionate, appropriate, and effective for the treatment of health problems and the promotion of health.

  1. Demonstrate skills in interviewing and performing an age-oriented physical examination on children, newborn to 21 years of age.
  2. Conduct a pediatric physical exam appropriate to the nature of the visit or complaint.
  3. Formulate a clinical assessment (appropriate differential diagnosis, problem list) and establish diagnostic and therapeutic plans for each problem on the list.
  4. Obtain a complete medical history and examination.
  5. Document the history, physical exam, and assessment and plan using an organized format appropriate to the clinical situation (e.g. inpatient admission note, SOAP progress note, acute illness visit, health supervision visit).
  6. Assume responsibility for the initial and follow-up care of the patient.

Medical Knowledge

Students are expected to demonstrate knowledge of established and evolving biomedical, clinical and social sciences.

  1. CLIPP Case Knowledge Objectives
  2. Interpret the results of basic diagnostic tests, recognizing the age appropriate values.

Practice Based Learning and Improvement

Students are expected to investigate and evaluate their patient care practices by appraisal and assimilation of scientific evidence.

  1. Establish a pattern of continuous inquiry into the problems of human health and development, referring to basic texts and current literature.
  2. Appreciate the role of established research and personal inquiry in advancing pediatric care.
  3. Search for relevant clinical information using electronic databases and critically appraise the information obtained to make evidence based medicine decision on the care of your patients.

Systems Based Practice

Students are expected to demonstrate an awareness of the larger context and system of health care and effectively call on system resources to provide optimal care.

  1. Describe the importance of access to medical care as a determinant of health.
  2. Identify common barriers to health for underserved families.
  3. Describe the role and responsibility of physicians in linking children and families with community resources.
  4. Identify potential resources for underserved patients and the services provided by those resources.
  5. Describe the eligibility criteria and services offered by WIC and BadgerCare.

Interpersonal and Communication Skills

Students are expected to effectively communicate and collaborate with patients, their families and health professionals.

  1. Demonstrate sensitivity to confidentiality, privacy and modesty during the medical interview and physical exam.
  2. Demonstrate effective verbal and non-verbal communication skills with children and their families.
  3. Correctly identify the need for an interpreter in patient-physician interactions.
  4. Present a complete, well-organized verbal summary of the patient’s history and physical examination findings, including an assessment and plan modifying the presentation to fit the time constraints and educational goals of the setting.
  5. Effectively communicate information about the diagnosis and plan to the health care team.
  6. Effectively communicate information about the diagnosis and plan to the family and assess the families understanding of this information.
  7. Observe and reflect on the communication of “bad news” to patients and families.

Professionalism

Students are expected to demonstrate a commitment to carrying out professional responsibilities, and to be responsive and compassionate.

  1. Demonstrate the development of humanistic attitudes in dealing with well, acutely ill, and chronically ill pediatric patients and their families.
  2. Fulfill institutional standards for professional behavior by:
    • Adhering to the dress code consistent with clerkship standards
    • Being punctual for all clinical and educational experiences
    • Fulfilling all educational assignments and responsibilities on time
    • Displaying honesty, courtesy and respect in all interactions
    • Respecting diversity of race, ethnicity, culture, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability and socioeconomic status.
    • Protecting patient confidentiality
    • Accepting constructive feedback
    • Using professional language
    • Exhibiting independent and self directed learning
  3. Demonstrate a positive attitude for education by showing intellectual curiosity, initiative, honesty, integrity, responsibility, dedication to being prepared and reliability.
  4. Treat all members of the health care team with courtesy and respect.