Description

Students attend rounds on the Medical Chest Service at Mayo Clinic Hospital, Saint Marys Campus, with the staff consultant and medical residents. This takes most of the morning and includes a 30-60 minute didactic session, primarily conducted by the consultant. Typically, students are assigned to evaluate patients when they are initially admitted to the hospital. Patients are then evaluated by the resident and staff consultant consecutively. Students are encouraged to follow their patients to appropriate areas, such as oncology, bronchoscopy, pulmonary function and special procedure laboratories. Students may be assigned a topic to review and present informally to the group.

Specific goals

1. Gain experience evaluating hospitalized patients with problems related to thoracic diseases and internal medicine.
2. Improve skills in history taking, physical examination and the management of patients with thoracic diseases and internal medicine.
3. Become familiar with the various laboratory-based procedures used in pulmonary medicine, including bronchoscopy and pulmonary function tests.

Activity outline

Students attend morning rounds from approximately 8 a.m. to 12 noon. During afternoons and evenings, students evaluate hospital patients and have the opportunity to stay overnight in the hospital for follow-up of critically ill patients. Attendance at regularly scheduled conferences on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, as well as medical chest conferences, is required.

Method of evaluation

The assigned medical residents and staff consultants evaluate students during the elective. Evaluation focuses on skills in obtaining a patient's history; performance of physical examinations; amount of knowledge; patient management skills; and an ability to work well with the patients, medical residents, and staff.

Per Mayo Clinic institutional policy, faculty and residents/fellows will not complete any outside evaluations. You will be provided with an electronic performance evaluation via Mayo Clinic’s MedHub portal. A final summative evaluation will be sent to you and your school official upon completion of your clerkship.