FailureToThrive Posted April 6, 2019 Report Share Posted April 6, 2019 Starting my clerkships with a 2-week elective... Is there any way I can sharpen my clinical skills before hand? Any key ressources? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted April 6, 2019 Report Share Posted April 6, 2019 What's the elective? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FailureToThrive Posted April 7, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2019 3 hours ago, Lactic Folly said: What's the elective? Derm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted April 7, 2019 Report Share Posted April 7, 2019 Do you mean sharpening your skills for clerkship in general, or for the elective specifically? For derm, I'd imagine you'd want to read up on commonly seen conditions in that field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FailureToThrive Posted April 7, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2019 28 minutes ago, Lactic Folly said: Do you mean sharpening your skills for clerkship in general, or for the elective specifically? For derm, I'd imagine you'd want to read up on commonly seen conditions in that field. Sharpening my clinical skills for clerkship in general! I was already planning on reading up on derm before starting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted April 7, 2019 Report Share Posted April 7, 2019 There are books like First Aid for the Wards and How to be a Truly Excellent Junior Medical Student. The material tends to 'gel' more once you have actually had firsthand exposure to the wards, I find, so set aside some time at the start of the rotation to refresh your reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scorbix Posted April 8, 2019 Report Share Posted April 8, 2019 If this is your first rotation ever, I would hope that the expectations of your preceptor(s) would be relatively lax. One way to stand out, in my opinion, would be to develop excellent history taking skills, as this would be (likely) your primary role. Being extremely thorough, yet direct with your questioning, is something that you will do continuously throughout your clerkship, and so developing good habits now will serve you in the long run. I'm not sure what your derm rotation is like, but I did a 2-week selective in derm a month or so ago, and it was entirely private practice. You will see a lot of psoriasis, eczema, actinic keratosis, some skin cancers, etc. Knowing how to treat those, and describe them accurately with appropriate terminology, I think, would be the difference between a good clerk and an outstanding clerk. Lastly, ask to do things in the clinic like punch biopsies. It shows you take initiative, and it's also probably the most exciting part of the rotation if you ask me. Best of luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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