M.D. Program Core Clerkships

• Clerkship Director: Navdeep Sekhon, M.D.
• Associate Clerkship Director (Houston): Adedoyin Adesina, M.D.
• Associate Clerkship Director (Temple): Pratiksha Naik, M.D.

The Ben Taub General Hospital is a county hospital that serves a primarily underserved population and is one of only two Level 1 Trauma Centers in Harris County. In addition, it is a Comprehensive Chest Pain Center and a Comprehensive Stroke Center. At this site, the students are the first provider to see the undifferentiated patient and form a diagnostic and therapeutic plan. Students gain exposure to a wide variety of common chief complaints for which students present to the Emergency Center.

Students will have the opportunity to perform common Emergency Medicine procedures: FAST ultrasound, laceration repairs, incision and drainage, splinting and IV insertion. Students will have encounters with patients with:

• Altered Mental Status
• Chest Pain
• Shortness of Breath
• Toxicology/Poisoning
• Abdominal Pain
• Trauma
• Shock
• Sonography in Trauma (E-FAST Exam)
• Interpret an EKG
• Use of an Interpreter

Students attend orientation on the first Monday of their rotation, which is mandatory. Supplementing the clinical experience, students also have three to five hours of active learning didactics a week. 

Students work a schedule like an Emergency Medicine physician. Students work between 60-70 hours clinically as part of this rotation including two-night shifts and two-weekend shifts.

The Core Competency Graduation Goals are the foundation of learning objectives created for the School of Medicine Curriculum. The list below indicates aspects of each of these competencies that students are expected to achieve in the Emergency Medicine Clerkship through didactics, direct observation, self-directed learning with provided materials and simulation.

Professionalism

• Perform pertinent, compassionate and focused history and physical exams on the undifferentiated patient.

Patient Care

• Perform pertinent, compassionate and focused history and physical exams on the undifferentiated patient.
• Create a prioritized differential diagnosis for common emergent chief complaints.
• Create a diagnostic and therapeutic plan for common emergent chief complaints.
• Demonstrate competency in performing basic EM procedures.

Interpersonal and Communication Skills

• Demonstrate interprofessional communication skills that result in information exchange and collaboration with patients, their families and colleagues.

• Clerkship Director: Arindam Sarkar, M.D.
• Associate Clerkship Director (Houston): Kenneth Barning, M.D., Ch.B.
• Associate Clerkship Director (Temple): Ana Crew, D.O., M.P.H.

Clinical sites for this clerkship include Baylor Family Medicine, Community Health Centers of the Harris Health System, Baylor Scott & White Health, and both large and small group practices throughout Houston and Temple. After a brief time shadowing their preceptor, students see patients independently. Regardless of where you complete your rotation, your clinical experience will include patient encounters for:

• Musculoskeletal Pain
• Hypertension
• Diabetes mellitus
• Dyslipidemia
• Wellness Visit
• Depression
• Tobacco Use
• Obesity
• Dyspepsia
• Cultural Competence
• Geriatric Care
• Obesity
• Obstructive Lung Disease
• Healthcare Disparities
• Substance Use

Students attend the clerkship orientation and receive a seminar on diabetes and caregiver stress on the first day of the rotation. Each Thursday morning features additional virtual seminars on high-yield topics such as hypertension, pediatric infections, health promotion, musculoskeletal pain and high-value care.  

Students also receive independent time and materials for self-directed learning including clinical practice guidelines, case studies, videos and other presentations.

Students on this rotation will have an orientation on the first day, followed by daily in-clinic sessions with their preceptor. The rotation lasts four weeks, and students are typically in clinic with their preceptor from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., with protected time on Thursdays. The final week of the clerkship contains the required Standardized Patient (SP) exam and NBME exam. 

The Core Competency Graduation Goals are the foundation of learning objectives created for the School of Medicine Curriculum. The list below indicates aspects of each of these competencies that students are expected to achieve in the Family and Community Medicine Clerkship through handling different types of patient encounters, working with their preceptor, and self-directed learning with provided materials.

Professional and Personal Development

• Demonstrate compassion, ethical behavior and professionalism while fostering self-awareness, accountability and continuous growth.

Knowledge for Practice

• Apply integrated biomedical, clinical, and public health sciences to diagnose, manage and prevent common ambulatory care disorders in individuals and populations effectively.

Patient Care

• Perform complete and/or focused patient histories and physical exams for ambulatory patients in a variety of contexts (e.g., initial, follow-up).
• Utilize the history and physical, laboratory data, imaging studies and other diagnostic tools to develop a problem representation, a prioritized differential diagnosis and plan of care.

Interpersonal and Cross-Cultural Communication

• Demonstrate effective, respectful and compassionate communication skills (verbal, non-verbal and written) to effectively interact with patients, families and the medical team across diverse backgrounds. 

Health Systems Science and Social Contexts of Care

• Conduct health promotion based on principles of population health, informed by patients’ unique backgrounds, characteristics, values and beliefs.

Critical Thinking, Inquiry and Problem-Solving

• Use critical thinking skills to form questions, acquire, appraise and apply evidence, mitigate bias and navigate uncertainty in medical decision-making.

Teamwork and Collaboration

• Demonstrate collaborative skills with all members of the interprofessional team in a manner that maximizes team effectiveness.

• Clerkship Director: Andrew Caruso, M.D.
• Associate Clerkship Director (Houston): Doris Lin, M.D.
• Associate Clerkship Director (Temple): Adam Brown, D.O.

Students all rotate at the following affiliates:

Houston Campus 

• Ben Taub Hospital on an Inpatient Ward Team
• Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center on an Inpatient Ward Team
• Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center on a Subspecialty Consultant Team
• Ambulatory clinics in the Harris health, VA or Baylor systems.

Temple Campus 

• Baylor Scott and White Medical Center – Temple
• Central Texas VA Medical Center - Temple

Through the various rotations students will be specifically focused on encountering patients with the following medical symptoms or conditions:

• Acid-Base Disorder/Electrolyte Abnormality
• Acute Kidney Injury
• Altered mental status
• Anemia
• Atrial Fibrillation/Arrhythmia
• Cancer
• Chest Pain
• Cirrhosis
• Congestive Heart Failure
• Constipation or Diarrhea
• Coronary Artery Disease
• Diabetes Mellitus
• GI Bleeding
• Heart Murmur
• HIV/Immunocompromised state
• Hypertension
• Obstructive Lung Disease 
• Pneumonia

Students will also receive specific feedback about their performance from their faculty members and get direct feedback about their progress in documenting the adult history and physical. Students will additionally be observed by our faculty taking the relevant portions of the adult history and physical exam at the patient bedside.

The following instructional methods are utilized with multiple sessions vertically integrated with the School of Medicine preclinical curriculum:

• Core Clerkship Case Series – applies the flipped classroom approach to core Internal Medicine topics.
• Large Group Didactics Series – typically in person style workshops about key therapeutic topics for Internal Medicine.
• Baylor Internal Medicine Resident Morning Report and Student Report – the pivotal learning experience with the Internal Medicine Residency program that focuses on the clinical reasoning skills of the differential diagnosis deliberation and decision making from recently admitted patients at the affiliate hospitals.

During this rotation, students also participate in the ‘No Place Like Home’ interprofessional educational experience. Medical and Pharmacy students work as a team to assess a patient in their home environment to learn about the patient’s ability to follow care plans in their own environs and learn how to do so with interprofessional colleagues. The clerkship also offers an additional interprofessional workshop that pairs medical students with pharmacy students, nursing students and physician assistant students to all work together and breakdown a quality improvement and patient safety case.

The Core Competency Graduation Goals are the foundation of learning objectives created for the School of Medicine Curriculum. The list below indicates aspects of each of these competencies that students are expected to achieve in the Medicine Clerkship through didactics, direct observation, self-directed learning with provided materials and simulation.

Professional and Personal Development

• Demonstrate compassion, ethical behavior and professionalism while fostering self-awareness, accountability and continuous growth.

Knowledge for Practice

• Apply integrated biomedical, clinical, and public health sciences to diagnose, manage and prevent common ambulatory care disorders in individuals and populations effectively.

Patient Care

• Perform complete and/or focused patient histories and physical exams for ambulatory patients in a variety of contexts and settings.
• Utilize the history and physical, laboratory data, imaging studies and other diagnostic tools to develop a problem representation, a prioritized differential diagnosis and plan of care.
• Demonstrate procedural skills and provide appropriate peri-procedural care with an understanding of indications, risks and benefits. 

Interpersonal and Cross-Cultural Communication

• Demonstrate effective, respectful and compassionate communication skills (verbal, non-verbal and written) to effectively interact with patients, families and the medical team across diverse backgrounds. 

Health Systems Science and Social Contexts of Care

• Integrate value-based care principles, including cost awareness and risk-benefit analysis, to optimize resource allocation for improved patient and population outcomes. (Value-Based Care)
• Apply quality improvement frameworks used in health system improvement. (Quality Improvement)

Critical Thinking, Inquiry and Problem-Solving

• Use critical thinking skills to form questions, acquire, appraise and apply evidence, mitigate bias and navigate uncertainty in medical decision-making.

Teamwork and Collaboration

• Demonstrate collaborative skills with all members of the interprofessional team in a manner that maximizes team effectiveness.

• Clerkship Director: Fernando X. Cuascut, M.D., M.P.H.
• Associate Clerkship Director (Houston): Nicolaas Anderson, D.O.
• Associate Clerkship Director (Temple): Preeti Rao, M.D.

In the Neurology Clerkship, students will have the opportunity to see numerous patients with various neurological complaints. Students are expected to independently evaluate, assess, and present their findings to the neurology team including residents, fellows, other clerkship students, and attendings.
Students are assigned to the clinical team at one of these sites:

Houston Campus 

• Ben Taub Hospital
• Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center
• Texas Children’s Hospital
• Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center

Temple Campus 

Students will spend most of the clerkship time at one primary site, such as Ben Taub General Hospital (BT), St. Luke’s Hospital, or DeBakey VA Medical Center (VAMC). They will also complete a one-week subrotation at Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH). Students are assigned two weeks of inpatient service (or ICU at Baylor St. Luke’s) and two weeks of consult service. Students are also assigned to a few days in ambulatory clinics.

Students are expected to be available for clinical duties at all sites between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. However, each site may have a different schedule. So, in the spirit of teamwork, students are asked to work within the schedule of the attending and team.

There is no overnight call or weekend responsibility at any of the sites.

There are no procedures required for this rotation.

Students will be required to evaluate and assess patients on the Neurology Clerkship presenting with the following symptoms:

• Weakness caused by central lesion
• Weakness caused by peripheral lesion
• Gait disturbance
• Headache
• Altered Mental Status
• Seizure
• Visual disturbance
• Neurologic Emergency
• Rehabilitation care
• Sensory dysfunction

Students will also complete written histories and physicals for patients.

Students are required to attend weekly Neurology Grand Rounds and Team-Based Learning sessions. Students are also expected to review lectures posted on Blackboard on a variety of topics including neurological history and physical, neuroanatomy, headache, dementia, stroke, epilepsy, demyelinating diseases, neuromuscular diseases, and movement disorders.

The Core Competency Graduation Goals are the foundation of learning objectives created for the School of Medicine Curriculum. The list below indicates aspects of each of these competencies that students are expected to achieve in the Neurology Clerkship through didactics, direct observation, self-directed learning with provided materials and simulation.

Professional and Personal Development

• Demonstrate compassion, ethical behavior and professionalism while fostering self-awareness, accountability and continuous growth.

Knowledge for Practice

• Apply integrated biomedical, clinical, and public health sciences to diagnose, manage and prevent common ambulatory care disorders in individuals and populations effectively.

Patient Care

• Perform complete and/or focused patient histories and physical exams for ambulatory patients in a variety of contexts and settings.
• Utilize the history and physical, laboratory data, imaging studies and other diagnostic tools to develop a problem representation, a prioritized differential diagnosis and plan of care.

Interpersonal and Cross-Cultural Communication

Demonstrate effective, respectful and compassionate communication skills (verbal, non-verbal and written) to effectively interact with patients, families and the medical team across diverse backgrounds. 

Health Systems Science and Social Contexts of Care

• Use electronic health records to guide clinical decision support in clinical practice. (Clinical informatics and Information Technology)

Critical Thinking, Inquiry and Problem-Solving

• Use critical thinking skills to form questions, acquire, appraise and apply evidence, mitigate bias and navigate uncertainty in medical decision-making.

Teamwork and Collaboration

• Demonstrate collaborative skills with all members of the interprofessional team in a manner that maximizes team effectiveness.

• Clerkship Director: Tara Harris, M.D.
• Associate Clerkship Director (Houston): Tracilyn Hall, M.D.
• Associate Clerkship Director (Temple): Chris Birkholz, M.D.

Rotation sites for the OB/GYN clerkship are:

Houston Campus 

Inpatient

• Ben Taub Hospital – Gynecology, Gynecologic  Oncology, Maternal Fetal Medicine
• Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women – Gynecology, Maternal Fetal Medicine
• Baylor St Luke’s Hospital – Gynecology, Gynecologic Oncology

Labor and Delivery

• Ben Taub Hospital
• Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women

Outpatient 

• Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women
  • MFM clinic
  • Generalist Clinic: PFW Tower II
  • Generalist Clinic: Pearland
• Harris Health
  • Vallbona Clinic
  • Ben Taub OB High Risk clinic
  • Ben Taub Towers Gynecology clinic
  • MLK Clinic
  • La Nueva Casa de Amigos

Temple Campus

Inpatient

• Baylor Scott & White Memorial Hospital- Gynecology, Gynecologic  Oncology, Maternal Fetal Medicine

Labor and Delivery

•     Baylor Scott & White Memorial Hospital

Outpatient

• Baylor Scott & White Memorial Hospital
• Baylor Scott & White Clinic-Temple Professional Plaza 2
• Baylor Scott & White Specialty Clinic

At both the Houston and Temple campuses, students will have encounters with patients for:

• Pelvic exams 
• Urinary catheter insertion 
• Verbal handoff 
• Vaginal delivery 
• Cesarean delivery 
• Suturing
• Pre-eclampsia 
• Ruptured membranes 
• Preterm labor 
• Contraceptive counseling 
• Vulvovaginal complaint
• Abnormal uterine bleeding 
• Pelvic pain 
• Ultrasound for fetal presentation (UAT)

Students will also conduct obstetrics histories and physical exams and complete postpartum progress notes and post-operative progress notes.

Didactic sessions are given throughout the rotation. Topics include abnormal uterine bleeding, contraception, diabetes and hypertension in pregnancy, pregnancy complications, fertility, gynecologic cancers, and intimate partner violence. Students also participate in a simulation session and an informed consent workshop.. Additional videos, guides and other learning resources are available to students on Blackboard.

A typical schedule is as follows. Specific schedules are received on the first day of the clerkship.

The six-week Obstetrics & Gynecology rotation is divided into three two-week sub-rotations. Students spend two weeks on an inpatient service, two weeks on an outpatient (clinic) service, and two weeks on Labor and Delivery/Triage.

The Core Competency Graduation Goals are the foundation of learning objectives created for the School of Medicine Curriculum. The list below indicates aspects of each of these competencies that students are expected to achieve in the OB/GYN Clerkship through didactics, direct observation, and self-directed learning with provided materials and simulation.

Professional and Personal Development

• Demonstrate compassion, ethical behavior and professionalism while fostering self-awareness, accountability and continuous growth.

Knowledge for Practice

• Apply integrated biomedical, clinical, and public health sciences to diagnose, manage and prevent common ambulatory care disorders in individuals and populations effectively.

Patient Care

• Perform complete and/or focused patient histories and physical exams for ambulatory patients in a variety of contexts and settings.
• Utilize the history and physical, laboratory data, imaging studies and other diagnostic tools to develop a problem representation, a prioritized differential diagnosis and plan of care.
• Obtain and document informed consent, perform procedures proficiently and provide appropriate post procedural care.

Interpersonal and Cross-Cultural Communication

• Demonstrate effective, respectful and compassionate communication skills (verbal, non-verbal and written) to effectively interact with patients, families and the medical team across diverse backgrounds. 

Health Systems Science and Social Contexts of Care

• Explain how economic aspects of the US healthcare system dominate healthcare policy and reform efforts and how these impact health outcomes. (Healthcare Policy and Economics)
• Demonstrate patient-centered care by understanding and addressing the sociocultural attributes, health status, disparities and needs of diverse communities. (Population Health)

Critical Thinking, Inquiry and Problem-Solving

• Use critical thinking skills to form questions, acquire, appraise and apply evidence, mitigate bias and navigate uncertainty in medical decision-making.

Teamwork and Collaboration

• Demonstrate collaborative skills with all members of the interprofessional team in a manner that maximizes team effectiveness.

• Clerkship Director: Sanghamitra Misra, M.D., M.Ed.
• Associate Clerkship Director (Houston): Gal Barak, M.D., M.Ed.
• Associate Clerkship Director (Temple): Neelam Konnur, M.D.

The Pediatric Clerkship is six-weeks of clinical experience divided into four subrotations.

Clinical experiences include patient encounters for:

• Heart Murmur
• Rash
• Ear Concern
• Respiratory Condition
• Abdominal Pain
• Obesity (evaluation/management)
• Infant Nutrition Counseling
• Injury prevention counseling
• Sub-Q/IM medication administration
• Well child visits (growth interpretation, immunization record review, Tanner staging, developmental assessment, and HEADDS exam)
• Newborn Exam
• Mental/Behavioral Health Evaluation and Counseling  

During this clerkship students:

• Attend clerkship didactic sessions, resident noon conferences, and grand rounds.
• Engage in family-centered rounds in the inpatient setting.
• May participate in an interprofessional education experience with nursing students.
• May watch presentations and videos on neonatal counseling. 
• Participate in a neonatology procedure session. 
• Utilize a virtual curriculum for interactive learning.
• Have access to abundant resources for independent learning on a variety of topics.

The Core Competency Graduation Goals are the foundation of learning objectives created for the School of Medicine Curriculum. The list below indicates aspects of each of these competencies that students are expected to achieve in the Pediatric Clerkship through managing different types of patient encounters and self-directed learning with provided materials.

Professional and Personal Development

• Demonstrate compassion, ethical behavior and professionalism while fostering self-awareness, accountability and continuous growth.

Knowledge for Practice

• Apply integrated biomedical, clinical, and public health sciences to diagnose, manage and prevent common ambulatory care disorders in individuals and populations effectively.

Patient Care

• Perform complete and/or focused patient histories and physical exams for ambulatory patients in a variety of contexts and settings.
• Utilize the history and physical, laboratory data, imaging studies and other diagnostic tools to develop a problem representation, a prioritized differential diagnosis and plan of care.

Interpersonal and Cross-Cultural Communication

• Demonstrate effective, respectful and compassionate communication skills (verbal, non-verbal and written) to effectively interact with patients, families and the medical team across diverse backgrounds. 

Health Systems Science and Social Contexts of Care

• Demonstrate understanding of healthcare policy as it pertains to pediatrics patients including key policies, gaps in policies, opportunities for advocacy and the ability to critically analyze and propose improvements. (Healthcare Policy and Economics and Quality Improvement)
• Identify how social and systemic factors influence health inequities and population health on a local, national and global level. (Health Care Structures and Processes, Population Health)

Critical Thinking, Inquiry and Problem-Solving

• Use critical thinking skills to form questions, acquire, appraise and apply evidence, mitigate bias and navigate uncertainty in medical decision-making.

Teamwork and Collaboration

• Demonstrate collaborative skills with all members of the interprofessional team in a manner that maximizes team effectiveness.

• Clerkship Director:  Jin Yong Han, M.D.
• Associate Clerkship Director (Houston): Julie Williams, M.D.
• Associate Clerkship Director (Temple): Julie Young, M.D.

Clinical sites at which students rotate for this clerkship include:

Houston Campus

Harris Health System

• Inpatient Psychiatry
• Emergency Psychiatry
• Consultation Liaison Psychiatry
• Outpatient Psychiatry

Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center

• Inpatient Psychiatry
• Consultation Liaison Psychiatry
• Outpatient Psychiatry

Texas Children’s Hospital

• Outpatient Psychiatry
• Consultation Liaison Psychiatry

Memorial Park Psychiatry

• Outpatient Psychiatry

SUN Behavioral Houston/Houston Adult Psychiatry

• Inpatient Psychiatry/Outpatient Psychiatry

Houston Methodist Hospital

• Consultation Liaison Psychiatry

Baylor Psychiatry Clinic

• Outpatient Psychiatry

Menninger Clinic 

• Inpatient Psychiatry

Santa Maria Hostel

• Residential Substance Use Disorder Treatment Center

Temple Campus

Canyon Creek Behavioral Health

• Inpatient Psychiatry

BSWH Temple Memorial 

• Inpatient Psychiatry
• Emergency Psychiatry
• Consultation Liaison Psychiatry

BSWH Mental Health

• Outpatient Psychiatry

McLane Children’s Specialty Clinic

• Outpatient Psychiatry

Temple VA Medical Center

• Outpatient Psychiatry

Students are observed by faculty while completing the History and the Mental Status Exam portions of the psychiatric interviews.

• High-yield Application of Principles to Patients of Yours (HAPPY) Exercises are held on Wednesday afternoons.  
• Core Psychiatry Didactics are modules/recordings available in our Blackboard page. We provide an asynchronous study schedule recommendation. We also provide live CPX Q&A session and a Board Exam Review session.
• NEJM Cases provide deliberate practice, formative feedback, and standardization to students while engaging the students in active learning and foster critical thinking.  
• BCM Psychiatry Grand Rounds (*Only held from September through May)

Our clerkship is designed to fully adhere with BCM duty hours policy. Some clinical assignments work longer hours than others. Students receive email notification of what team they are assigned to and details about the site orientation prior to their first scheduled day.

The Core Competency Graduation Goals are the foundation of learning objectives created for the School of Medicine Curriculum. Below are the Psychiatry Clerkship objectives and how they connect to the overall CCGG’s.

Patient Care

• Perform complete and/or focused patient histories and mental status exams for patients in a variety of contexts and settings.  
• Utilize the history and physical/mental status exam, laboratory data, imaging studies, and other diagnostic tools to develop a problem representation, a prioritized differential diagnosis and plan of care.

Knowledge for Practice

• Apply integrated biomedical, clinical, and public health sciences to diagnose, manage, and prevent common psychiatric disorders in individuals and populations effectively.

Interpersonal and Cross-Cultural Communication Skills

• Demonstrate effective, respectful and compassionate communication skills (verbal, non-verbal and written) to effectively interact with patients, families and the medical team across diverse backgrounds.

Professional & Personal Development

• Demonstrate compassion, ethical behavior, and professionalism while fostering self-awareness, accountability, and continuous growth.

Health Systems and Social Context of Care

• Describe how structural barriers, access to care, social determinants of health or health equity lead to adverse health outcomes for patients and populations. (Population Health)

Critical Thinking, Inquiry and Problem-Solving

• Use critical thinking skills to form questions, acquire, appraise, and apply evidence, mitigate bias, and navigate uncertainty in medical decision-making

Teamwork and Collaboration

• Demonstrate collaborative skills with all members of the interprofessional team in a manner that maximizes team effectiveness.

Knowledge for Practice

• Apply integrated biomedical, clinical, and public health sciences to diagnose, manage, and prevent common psychiatric disorders in individuals and populations effectively.

• Clerkship Director: Yesenia Rojas-Khalil, M.D.
• Associate Clerkship Directors (Houston): Cary Hsu, M.D. and Zachary Pallister, M.D.
• Associate Clerkship Director (Temple): Stacey Milan, M.D.

The six-week Surgery Clerkship is divided into two three-week rotations. Students spend three weeks on a general surgery service and three weeks on either a surgical sub-specialty service, or an ICU service. 

The surgical sub-specialty services include Cardiothoracic Surgery, Transplant Surgery, and Vascular Surgery.

During the Surgical Clerkship rotations are done at:

Houston Campus

• Ben Taub Hospital
• Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center
• Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center
• Texas Children's Hospital

Temple Campus

• Temple Memorial Hospital
• McLane Children’s Hospital

Students learn how to

• Perform an appropriately focused history and physical exam on a patient with a surgical complaint
• Understand the appropriate diagnostic tests, as well as how to interpret labs and studies needed to work up a surgical patient
• Develop a prioritized differential diagnosis list, assessment and management plan.

Students participate in a variety of surgical cases and follow these patients on a daily basis for the duration of their hospital course. Students are integral members of the team, and present at least one patient daily on rounds or in clinic. Students also see surgical consults and present those patients to an attending and/or resident physician.

At the conclusion of the rotation, students will demonstrate familiarity with the anatomy/pathophysiology of and established treatment of the following:

• Basic management of trauma patients 
• Perioperative Care 
• Surgical Critical Care 
• Common Surgical Complications 
• Surgery as a career 
• Recognition and management of: 
  • Surgical Wound Care
  • Abdominal Pain 
  • Diseases of the Biliary Tract
  • Hernias
  • Breast Cancer/Disease 
  • Soft-tissue infections (i.e. Diabetic foot)
  • Suture and knot tying a Surgical Wound
  • Foley Catheter Insertion
  • Intubation

Students should have completed the following skills by the end of their Core Clerkship:

• Basic Suturing 
• Fundamentals of Wound Care and dressing changes
• Nasogastric Tube management
• Foley Catheter Insertion

Chairman’s Rounds, Ben Taub Attending Rounds, Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center Teaching Conferences and Morbidity and Mortality Conferences at each hospital. Students also participate in General Surgery Skills Lab.

Most days begin at 6 a.m. with team rounds followed by either surgeries or clinic. The day ends with afternoon rounds. Morning rounds are work rounds, while afternoon rounds are teaching rounds. Generally, medical students are expected to be free of clinical obligations by 7 p.m.

The Core Competency Graduation Goals are the foundation of learning objectives created for the School of Medicine Curriculum. The list below indicates aspects of each of these competencies that students are expected to achieve in the Surgery Clerkship through handling different types of patient encounters, working with their preceptor, and self-directed learning with provided materials.

Professional and Personal Development

• Demonstrate compassion, ethical behavior and professionalism while fostering self-awareness, accountability and continuous growth.

Knowledge for Practice

• Apply integrated biomedical, clinical, and public health sciences to diagnose, manage and prevent common ambulatory care disorders in individuals and populations effectively.

Patient Care

• Perform complete and/or focused patient histories and physical exams for ambulatory patients in a variety of contexts and settings.
• Utilize the history and physical, laboratory data, imaging studies and other diagnostic tools to develop a problem representation, a prioritized differential diagnosis and plan of care.
• Demonstrate procedural skills and provide appropriate peri-procedural care with an understanding of indications, risks and benefits. 

Interpersonal and Cross-Cultural Communication

• Demonstrate effective, respectful and compassionate communication skills (verbal, non-verbal and written) to effectively interact with patients, families and the medical team across diverse backgrounds. 

Health Systems Science and Social Contexts of Care

• Demonstrate mitigation of harm by prioritizing patient safety, through evidence-based strategies for quality-driven care. (Patient Safety)
• Identify factors that contribute to sustainability of improvement efforts. (Quality Improvement)

Critical Thinking, Inquiry and Problem-Solving

• Use critical thinking skills to form questions, acquire, appraise and apply evidence, mitigate bias and navigate uncertainty in medical decision-making.

Teamwork and Collaboration

• Demonstrate collaborative skills with all members of the interprofessional team in a manner that maximizes team effectiveness.