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Medical Student Education

The Third Year Pediatric Clerkship is directed by Eve Colson, M.D., Associate Professor of Pediatrics. Matthew Bizzarro, M.D., Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, is the Assistant Clerkship Director. This core clerkship is eight weeks in length. Each medical student spends four weeks on an inpatient service, either at the Yale New Haven Children's Hospital or at Bridgeport Hospital, and four weeks in two two-week ambulatory settings, which include: pediatric primary care centers at Yale, St. Raphael's Hospital or St. Mary's Hospital; any of at least eight different pediatric subspecialty consultation services, or private practices in the greater New Haven area. The goal of the clerkship is to incorporate the clerks as critical thinking and working members of the ward or outpatient team, to introduce them to the pediatric history and physical exam, to introduce them to the physical examination of a newborn and the care of families with neonates and to actively engage them in critical thinking and reasoning, especially in relation to those diseases and pathologic conditions that are seen in children.

All Yale medical students must complete the clerkship prior to graduation. Important links for the Third Year Clerkship include:

• Syllabus
• Clipp Cases for which login instructions are provided in the Syllabus
• Patient Log Information Sheet
• Pediatric Physical Examination
• American Academy of Pediatrics Otitis Media Cases

Tracy Sotere is the Coordinator of Medical Student Clerkships. She may be reached at tracy.sotere@yale.edu.

The Fourth Year Sub-Internship & Elective Student Rotation: Inquiries about these two programs should be made to the Office of Student Affairs of the Yale University School of Medicine. The contact person is Linda Limauro.

First & Second Year Pediatric Pre-Clinical Studies offers students their initial medical exposure to the Pediatric population. A cadre of skilled Pediatric faculty implement tutorials twice during the second year of medical school, once in the fall and again in the spring. We believe this increased exposure will facilitate the transition into the third year clerkship. Additionally, a three hour orientation is planned for September 27, 2005 under the supervision of Barbara Sleight, MD, who is organizing this inaugural interactive workshop. Karen Santucci, M.D., Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Director) and the core team of involved Pediatric faculty may be reached at karen.santucci@yale.edu or by telephone at 203-688-7970.

We have exciting developments in Medical Student Education that make our program in Pediatrics unique. Just a few include:

• A Simulated Pediatric Patient in the Pediatric Emergency Department: This “baby robot” and its computer simulate the acute care setting, thereby providing a valuable teaching resource for students learning to rapidly evaluate and diagnose an infant, perform basic skills such as inserting an IV or performing an intubation, and otherwise interact with a non-talking patient. Attending physicians and staff in the Pediatric ED help with the simulation.
• Standardized Patients: Through a collaboration with Amistad Academy (a co-preparatory public charter school in New Haven), several teens in conjunction with Pediatric faculty have teamed up to provide Yale medical students with an opportunity to gain valuable insight. Medical students are afforded an opportunity to "practice" interviewing, evaluating, diagnosing and treating a culturally diverse group of adolescents and then gain valuable feedback in real-time.
• Ward Teaching Attendings: Attending physicians are assigned specifically to pediatric wards primarily to teach medical students, secondary to patient care. The goal is to observe presentation; history taking; physical examination; and, problem solving. Students are evaluated for their clinical care and interviewing skills. This provides valuable feedback where it is needed most - on the spot, in the situation. Students learn more quickly while the teaching attending enjoys the opportunity to mentor on a one-on-one basis.

Warren Andiman, M.D., Professor, is Director of Medical Student Studies and, as such, provides important support to the programming.