Clinical clerkships provide valuable hands-on experience for aspiring doctors. Following completion of all pre-clinical courses, medical students usually begin a rotation of clinical clerkships designed to give them hands-on experience working in a variety of healthcare settings. The student will apply what he or she has learned in the classroom to a healthcare setting under the supervision of medical doctors. During the rotations, attending medical doctors will provide mentoring and document evaluations to help the student determine his or her strengths and weaknesses. Specific clerkships, such as internal medicine, are usually required for the Doctor of Medicine degree, while others, such as pathology, are offered as electives.
Clinical clerkship programs last between 18 and 24 months, depending on the university’s requirements. A general medicine clerkship and a general surgery clerkship are required for most aspiring medical doctors. In addition, most core clinical clerkship requirements will require two additional clerkships. Students must take two of the following courses: pediatrics, critical care, family medicine, ambulatory medicine, psychiatry, or gynecology and obstetrics, either assignment or drawing lots. Elective clerkships, clinical care clerkships, and pre-internship clerkships may all be required of students. The clerkship must be completed successfully in order to continue and receive an MD degree.
Students are usually assigned to a hospital or other healthcare setting in the university’s community during clinical clerkship. Some students, on the other hand, may prefer to complete part or all of their clerkship at a different educational institution. This is especially true if the university he or she attends does not offer a specific clerkship in the field of interest to him or her. Visiting clinical clerkships are available at many universities specifically for this purpose.
The clinical clerkship requires you to keep track of your feedback.
Students will typically give attending doctors forms or cards to fill out in order to provide valuable feedback and formalize the process. Throughout the clinical clerkship, participating students will keep track of all patient interactions and clinical discussions. The clinical clerkship rotation aims to expose all students to the most relevant rotation aspects as a key method of certifying what they learned in class. In order to participate in the next clerkship, some clerkships within the rotation may require students to take and pass an examination.