This site will look much better in a browser that supports web standards, but it is accessible to any browser or Internet device.

Skip Navigation skip menu and banner
University of Wyoming

Clinical Clerkship Course Description

University of Wyoming Family Medicine Residency Program at Cheyenne

 

General Objectives of the Student

1) To introduce the student into the Family Medicine arena with its flavor, diversity and its

i) All-inclusiveness, its involvement in all processes and events of life and death
ii) Variety that brings the opportunity to learn more than is offered in most other medical specialties
iii) Ability to supply warmly gratifying emotional returns that come from those with whom we share life's problems

2) To determine one's own compatibility with this medical specialty.
3) To provide information and experience that will supplement skills acquired in other fields.
4) To meet medical school requirements for work in a primary care specialty.
5) To introduce environmental and geographical variety into the medical school process and experience.
6) To make use of an opportunity to augment one's ability to deal with oneself and other human beings.
7) To improve the special knowledge and technical skills required in Family Medicine.

General Objectives of the Program

1) To offer the facility, leadership, supervision and patients with which the student's objectives may be met.
2) To provide a measure of the student's level of attainment in various areas of family medicine so that strengths and weaknesses may be recognized by the student.
3) To provide guidance and, as far as is possible, the clinical opportunity to satisfy specifically perceived needs.
4) To provide an evaluation of the student's progress, especially in those areas of increased emphasis or to correct deficiencies.

Specific Objectives

1) To practice and thus improve the student's skills in:

i) Interviewing and obtaining pertinent and complete patient histories
ii) Performing complete and/or specific physical examinations
iii) Formulating an assessment and plan and presenting it in a concise yet complete manner.

2) To organize historical and physical findings into a sharply defined data base.
3) To do all this competently enough to assume some responsibility for patient management.

4) To begin to acquire more specific skills pertinent to Family Medicine, as:

venipuncture colposcopy
local anesthesia techniques joint aspiration
minor surgical techniques lumbar spinal tap
anoscopy urinary bladder catheterization
endoscopy incision and drainage
pelvic examinations and evaluations immobilization techniques


5) To be exposed to behavioral science as it applies to the practice of family medicine to:

i) Gain further understanding of the psychological and social aspects of family medicine
ii) Further develop a style of physician-patient interaction which is caring, enhances patient self-disclosure, and promotes patient care
iii) Further develop appropriate strategies for handling the "difficult patient"

Evaluation

On going evaluation will be concerned with such attitudinal characteristics in the student as availability, responsiveness, eagerness, initiative, promptness, receptivity, flexibility and energy more than with the development of specific skills. The student should be seeing patients more easily, comfortably and quickly at the end of the rotation than at its beginning. Chart records should reflect a student's increased capacity to gather pertinent historical material, to perform a physical evaluation and to combine these data into an assessment plan.

The student will be developing skills and confidence in various areas, making determinations of strength and weakness, and setting a course accordingly. No final oral or written examinations are scheduled. At the end of the rotation, the student will be asked to provide an account of the experience and fill out an evaluation form.

Number of Students

One or two students are accepted at a time. These clerkships are limited to third and fourth year students from accredited allopathic or osteopathic schools. International medical graduates are selected on an individual basis. We are unable to accommodate students in June or July.

Transportation

A public transportation system is not available in Cheyenne. Therefore, we require that you be responsible for providing your own means of transportation during your clerkship.

Board/Room

The University of Wyoming Family Medicine Residency Program at Cheyenne is able to provide a dislocation allowance of $1000 for a one month clerkship. Shorter rotations will be prorated accordingly. The administrative staff of the Residency Program will provide additional housing information upon request. Hospital meal tickets are available so the student might have meals at the hospital.

Malpractice Insurance

Professional liability insurance is the responsibility of the student or the medical school. The completed clerkship application, which includes that statement, should be in the program files prior to the beginning of the clerkship period. The University of Wyoming Family Medicine Residency Program does not provide professional liability coverage for clinic clerks.

Orientation

A brief orientation is scheduled during the first day of each clinical clerk's experience here. This includes a tour of the facility, introductions to staff, discussion of charting and dictation, the basic "rules" of the rotation, and a verbal contract of expectations mutually agreeable between the student and program. The student will be assigned to a team and given a desk from which to work. An individualized schedule will be given to the clerk for the month’s experience.

Clerkship Activities and Priorities

Since the typical family physician sees the majority of patients in an outpatient setting, our clerkship program is clinically oriented. Hospital exposure for the clerk is expected in that the clerk will make morning rounds with the in-patient team. The clerk will then return to the Family Medicine Center and see patients. Once a week call can be arranged. The clerk will also spend time in other clinical settings, i.e. rural general surgery, the VA hospital, endoscopy at the Cheyenne Surgery Center, the OB unit and our rural practice in Pine Bluffs, WY.

Selection of Patients for Student Care

The clerk will be seeing patients independently and then present the patient to the faculty member attending in the clinic. The patients will include walk-ins and overflow patients at first, but the clerk will be expected to see specific patients in follow-up.

Supervision

All patients seen by the student must be discussed and seen with the attending faculty before the patient leaves the Center. The name of the faculty consulted should be noted or dictated in the progress notes. Patients seen in the hospital will be discussed with the senior resident or the team before morning report. Notes and orders will need to be co-signed.

Super Bills

A charge ticket is to be completed for every patient visit to the Center. This includes nursing procedures (injections, blood pressure/weight checks), laboratory and x ray work. It is important both for computer analysis and for billing purposes that the charge ticket be complete and accurate.

All procedures performed should be documented, diagnoses noted and a return appointment specified. The completed ticket is to be reviewed and countersigned by the resident or faculty. It then accompanies the patient to the laboratory and/or x ray department for requested work, if ordered, and finally to the front desk for payment, scheduling an appointment and checkout.

Laboratory and X Ray

The clerk is expected to become familiar with the routine in which studies ordered are done. Positive findings are to be personally examined; procedures to be understood and performed as deemed appropriate by the student or preceptor. X rays and EKGs are to be read or examined and interpretations independently made by the student and reviewed with the preceptor. The resulting impression should be compared to the final reading by the radiologist in the case of x-rays and the
attending physician in the case of EKG’s.

Problem Oriented Medical Records

The POMR and SOAP formats are used in the Family Medicine Center. Students should become familiar with these methods of record keeping and are expected to use it consistently.

Prescriptions/Pharmacy

The student will write prescriptions, as they are needed. The attending faculty or a licensed resident must sign all prescriptions. Discussions with our clinical pharmacist are encouraged when questions regarding drugs and their actions/interactions arise. Small quantities of drug samples are available for patient use in the Center but all prescriptions must be filled elsewhere.

Noon Conference

Conferences are scheduled over the noon hour. Attendance is required in most cases. Certain conferences are considered optional and in other cases the student is excused.

Summary

The faculty, residents and staff of the University of Wyoming Family Medicine Residency Program at Cheyenne are dedicated to doing our best for those who come to us for care. Equal dedication is given to the learning process by which this is done. All of us share an interest in these objectives and recognize that medical students serving their clinical clerkships are an important and integral part of the program. The privilege of caring for human beings in all facets of their lives and helping them to feel better is rewarding and enjoyable. We anticipate the opportunity to share this unique experience with students of medicine.

Clerkship Application

1/07