Acting Internship Internal Medicine Primary Care and Beyond

Catalog Description: The Internal Medicine-Primary Care and Beyond “PCB” elective centers around 4 main areas:  Patient Care, “Hot Topics”, Advocacy and Self-Reflection.  PCB offers students the opportunity to hone their clinical skills via direct patient encounters in the outpatient setting.  Students will interview, examine and educate patients, with the guidance of internal medicine preceptors.  Students will also attend lectures and other activities pertaining to unique topics not typically covered under existing medical school curriculum. Students will actively participate in advocacy activities such as visiting a state legislator, writing letters to legislators, attending medical organization (such as Minnesota Medical Association, American College of Physicians) advocacy events, interacting with institutional advocacy committees, etc.  Finally, students will attend unique, interactive lectures provided by Abbott Northwestern General Internal Medicine Associates.  Lecture topics include:  "The Illusion of Medical Certainty", "The Story of Probability", "Medical Experts and Scientific Truth", "Heuristic Thinking", "Pitfalls in the Practice of Medicine", "Why William Osler Matters", "on Being a Doctor:  The Practical Wisdom of William Osler" and "The Physician as Leader".

Sites: Site availability may vary.

View site addresses by clicking on the site name below or visiting the site codes table. 

Required session attendance:

Typical weekly schedule/Delivery Mode: 3.5-4 days patient contact, 1.5-2 days curricular activities

Direct patient care: Yes

Consent Requirement: Open to student scheduling. Contact the course coordinator (Mariah Ipsan, medelective@umn.edu) to request a site other than Abbott Northwestern (AL-1014) or approval to schedule over the published capacity.

Course Objectives: By the end of this rotation, students will:

1. Be prepared to function near/at the level of an intern in a primary care setting.
2. Become familiar with trending topics pertaining to Primary Care.
3. Learn how to become an active participant in medical advocacy.
4. Reflect on scientific principles’ practical application to patient care.
5. Reflect on their own identity as physicians.

Regarding functioning near/at the level of an intern in a primary care setting:

1. Students will have direct management of at least 1 patient per hour in the clinic.
2. In addition to routine interviewing and examining patients, students will be responsible for counseling patients on plans and educating patients on pertinent topics such as the illness at hand, preventative care, smoking cessation, healthy lifestyle interventions, medication management, etc.
3. Students will be responsible for composing and entering complete progress notes in the electronic health records. They will also enter orders.
4. Students will perform common procedures such as pap/pelvic exams, skin biopsies, and joint injections, with appropriate supervision.
5. To promote the goal of continuity of care, all efforts will be made such that patients follow up with the same student.
6. To promote well roundedness as a future physician, students will attend weekly "on being a doctor"  and other lectures, attend activities relating to “hot topics”, and explore community based advocacy activities.

Graded Components:

• Method for assessment of clinical performance: Preceptor evaluation
• Other summative assessment items: Curriculum assignments submission

Grading Scale: P/N