A medical clerkship is a clinical rotation in which a third- or fourth-year medical student participates directly in patient care while learning about various fields of medicine. Medical students learn how to interview patients, record chart notes, order and interpret diagnostic tests, and initiate therapies during each rotation, which lasts about a month. Students rotate through primary care hospital departments such as pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, general surgery, and medicine during their third year of medical school. Fourth-year students rotate through many of the same departments as third-year students, but they also get to work in subspecialty departments like orthopedics, cardiology, radiology, and ophthalmology. A medical clerkship typically allows each medical student to choose a few elective blocks in areas of medicine that pique his interest.
Students study basic and clinical sciences during their first two years of medical school. The medical clerkship allows each student to put what he has learned into practice while being supervised an attending physician. The daily rounds, during which students present patient cases to attending physicians, discuss diagnostic and therapeutic interventions, and answer questions, are an important part of the medical clerkship. Students learn how to progress from the patient’s history and examination findings to making a diagnosis and initiating appropriate treatments in this manner. Typically, each medical student follows a patient list that has been assigned to them.
Students attend a variety of required conferences, grand rounds, and seminars in addition to morning work rounds. Grand rounds is a time when entire departments get together to discuss unusual cases and diagnostic issues. In addition to the students, students work as part of a clinical team that includes the attending physician, resident physicians, hospitalists, and interns. During a medical clerkship, medical students may be responsible for writing orders, writing clinical notes, drawing blood, and performing other diagnostic procedures. The student must also review laboratory test results and inform the resident physician of all findings.
In addition to the ones already mentioned, most medical schools require mandatory clerkships in family medicine, neurology, and psychiatry. Some programs also require experience in ERs and intensive care units, such as the neonatal intensive care unit and the cardiac care unit. Additionally, students must obtain advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) certification, which teaches them how to resuscitate a patient who has stopped breathing or whose heart has stopped beating. A rotation in electrocardiogram (EKG) interpretation is also included in medical clerkships.