Internal – Family Medicine

Clerkship Contact :

Clerkship Directors:

Clerkship Goals and Objectives
Medical Knowledge

• Discuss preventive health care issues for adult patients (including lifestyle behaviors), with rationale and indications for each.
• Formulate an initial and ongoing therapeutic plan of care for assigned patients with common medical diagnoses and symptoms
  • Abdominal pain
  • Acute infection/Nosocomial Infection/Pneumonia
  • Alcohol/substance abuse/dependence
  • Allergies
  • Anemia
  • Asthma (chronic cough/wheeze)
  • Back pain
  • Benign prostatic hypertrophy
  • Biliary/pancreatic disease
  • Cancer(breast/lung/skin/colon/prostate)
  • Chest pain
  • Cirrhosis/end-stage liver disease
  • Congestive heart failure
  • COPD/emphysema
  • Coronary artery disease/Arrhythmia/Atrial Fibrillation/Acute Myocardial Infarction
  • Deep vein thrombosis/ Pulmonary embolism/ hypercoaguable state
  • Delirium/dementia/altered mental status/Failure to Thrive
  • Depression
  • Diabetes Mellitus
  • Dyslipidemia
  • Dyspnea/respiratory distress
  • Electrolyte or acid/base disorder/dehydration
  • Esophageal reflux disease
  • Fatigue
  • Fever, bacteremia, sepsis
  • Gastrointestinal bleed
  • Headache
  • Hypertension
  • Insomnia
  • Joint/limb pain/injury
  • Nausea/vomiting
  • Noncompliance with medication
  • Obesity
  • Osteoarthritis/Rheumatologic Disease
  • Osteoporosis management/screening
  • Pain management
  • Peripheral vascular disease
  • Renal insufficiency/failure/Acute Kidney Injury/Chronic Kidney Disease
  • Sexually transmitted infection/HIV
  • Skin disorder/problem/Rash
  • Thyroid disorder
  • Tobacco abuse
  • Upper respiratory infection
  • Urinary incontinence
  • Urinary tract infection
  • IM Procedures:
    • Chest X-ray Interpretation
    • Spirogram/ PFT interpretation
    • CT chest
    • 12 lead EKG
    • LFT/ Pancreatic enzyme
    • Anemia testing
    • ABG inThyroid functionterpretation
    • Blood culture results
    • Urinalysis
    • WBC/RBC smear morphology
    • Quantiferon/ PPD
    • Sputum sample
    • Nebulizer administration
    • EKG –perform
    • Thoracentesis
    • Paracentesis
    • Blood culture/Venipuncture
    • IV insertion
    • Arterial puncture
    • Oxygen administration

Patient Care

• Perform and document a complete history and physical examination of the adult patient in a logical, organized, respectful, and thorough manner.
• Create a differential diagnosis based on the findings from the medical history and physical examination.
• Participate (observe, assist, perform or simulate) in a discussion about advance directives and informed consent with a patient.

Systems-Based Practice

• Discuss how to recognize and respond to system flaws in the delivery of care.
• Discuss the role of team members, consultants and other key personnel in the care of the patient.

Practice-Based Learning and Improvement

• Perform a computerized literature search to find articles pertinent to a focused clinical question and present information to colleagues.

Ethics and Professionalism

• Discuss basic principles of medical ethics as they specifically relate to care of individual patients.
• Demonstrate professional behaviors towards peers, faculty, staff, health care team members, and patients, in all learning and clinical encounters with regards to reliability and responsibility, self-improvement and adaptability, upholding ethical principles, and commitment to scholarship.

Interpersonal and Communication Skills

• Demonstrate ability to orally present a new or established inpatient or outpatient case in logical and accepted sequence, including the handover to transition care.
• Document inpatient and outpatient progress notes in a manner that includes appropriate data and reflects clinical decision-making process.
• Demonstrate sensitivity, respectfulness and inclusion of different cultural normative standards, socioeconomic background, gender, race/ethnicity and disabilities in clinical care.

View M.D. Program Objectives…