Ascension Providence Hospital Ambulatory Medicine

Rotation Director: Barry Feldman, MD

Rotation Location: Millenium Medical Center
31500 Telegraph Rd, Bingham Farms, MI 48025

Duration of the Rotation: 4 weeks (Special provisions can be made for two week or six week rotations.)

Students Per Month: Four

Schedule: 5 days/week. Generally 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. No call.

Prerequisites: 3rd and 4th Year AUC Medical Students only

General: The goal of the elective rotation in Ambulatory Medicine is to prepare students to effectively engage in their clinical experiences.

A key developmental stage for medical students is the transition from structured medical science courses to unstructured clinical experiences. During this transition, students must accomplish three key tasks: (1) progress from novice to acceptable performance on the skill set of gathering and reporting clinical information (2) develop new strategies for mastering clinical knowledge and (3) evolve their identity from a student, in a student-centered environment, to a professional, in a patient-centered environment.

Goals & Objectives of Rotation:

  1. Establish rapport with patients of different ages, gender and backgrounds.
  2. Accurately and consistently identify the purpose(s) of a visit.
  3. Conduct a focused history and physical on a patient presenting with an acute complaint, with a common chronic disease, or for a health maintenance visit.
  4. Present history and physical examination findings in a clear and organized manner in an oral and written format.
  5. Suggest initial evaluation or management strategies for common acute or chronic disease presentations.
  6. Develop personal daily learning goals and self-direct their experiences to achieve those objectives.
  7. Demonstrate a patient-centered approach when assessing or discussing patients.

Students will be assigned to an outpatient preceptor and are expected to complete the following learning activities to meet the above objectives:

  1. Interact independently with 6-8 patients each day and keep a patient log. Partner with the preceptor to select 3-4 patients in each half-day that provide a mixture of acute presentations, chronic disease follow-up, and preventive care visits over the course of the rotation.
  2. Document a minimum of 3 patient encounters each day in a standard outpatient format.  Review 1 to 2 patient encounters with their preceptors each week.
  3. Present patient information to their preceptor on a minimum of 3 patient encounters per day.
  4. Provide their preceptor with 1-3 individualized goals each day. At this stage, communication techniques or parts of the physical examination are appropriate. Examples include: (1) guide the interview of a talkative patient, (2) practice fundoscopic examination, (3) discuss behavior change, (4) describe skin lesions, etc.

Students also attend internal medicine Grand Rounds at Ascension Providence Hospital, Southfield Campus each week, Thursday at 8:00 a.m.  

Evaluation:

At the end of the rotation, the Rotation Director will collect data from the supervising physician and other medical team members and complete a written evaluation of the student that is reflective of the student’s academic competence, procedural proficiency and professional attributes. The standard medical school form from the student’s medical school will be used. If required, the student should complete a case log and an evaluation of the rotation and submit them to their medical school.