The Department of Emergency Medicine hosts fourth-year medical students as they complete a clerkship that lasts a total of five weeks. The clerkship provides students with an exciting, educational, and comprehensive experience that reveals the challenges and rewards embedded within the proper and professional practice of Emergency Medicine (EM). Since patients are our greatest teachers, we hope that by the end of the rotation, students will have significantly improved the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to make the most of the learning opportunity our Emergency Department (ED) patients represent.
The Emergency Department at AUBMC sees around 50,000 patients a year and is staffed by highly trained emergency physicians. The residency program is ACGME-I accredited, and students will have the chance to learn from residents and emergency physicians and to be exposed to a wide variety of patient presentations.
Objectives of the Clerkship
The student will be taught to:
- Properly approach the initial evaluation, stabilization, and treatment of patients who present to the ED with urgent, emergent, and life-threatening problems.
- Develop the interviewing skills necessary to obtain a thorough and complete history in a timely manner.
- Enhance their ability to appropriately and competently examine the ED patient through bedside teaching.
- Play an active role in the ongoing care of the patient in the ED. They will be encouraged to develop comprehensive differential diagnoses and narrow down these diagnoses using the appropriate examinations, studies, and consultations.
- Develop professionalism, compassion, and respectful care of the ED patient through continuous guidance and mentoring.
- Understand the organizational structure and operational functioning of the DEM and learn about its ongoing process improvement initiatives.
Learning Objectives
- By the end of this rotation, the student is expected to:
- Demonstrate an attitude of respect and care towards patients and their privacy and concerns.
- Work closely with members of the healthcare team and support staff respectfully and cooperatively.
- Perform focused but complete histories.
- Perform targeted physical exams appropriate for the presenting complaint.
- Select and interpret study data, review historical data, and synthesize all data gathered in order to reach correct diagnoses.
- Present cases in an organized manner.
- Keep timely and complete medical records.
- Demonstrate initiative in seeking new knowledge and in communicating it to peers.
- Analyze the quality and implications of medical literature, identifying future areas of inquiry.
Clerkship Organization
The clerkship consists of a core four-week rotation for fourth-year medical students and an additional week split between the ED and the students’ public health rotation.
Students will be expected to be present for approximately 17 shifts during the five weeks of their rotation.
The student will be scheduled for a mix of morning, evening, and weekend shifts. The shifts are divided between high acuity, low acuity, and pediatrics.
Student Responsibilities
- Attend an orientation session where clerkship objectives are detailed and clarified.
- Be responsible for the initial evaluation of assigned patients, history and physical exam, formulating a differential diagnosis, treatment plan, and determining a disposition for each of their assigned patients.
- Discuss the case with the attending physician on duty and execute a refined plan, following up on all diagnostic studies, calling for consultations, and reevaluating the patient’s status as necessary.
- Perform or assist in the supervised execution of indicated procedures.
- Attend all didactic activities scheduled during the clerkship, including all lectures, workshops, conferences, and grand rounds.
- Prepare case presentations and give brief presentations to peers on topics related to a patient’s diagnosis.
GradingStudents’ grades will be based on their clinical evaluation by DEM faculty, their performance during case presentations, professionalism, and procedures, and a final NBME exam at the end of their fourth year.
Elective Rotations for AUB Medical Students
Students attending AUBMC are welcome to schedule elective rotations in the DEM, where they will receive the opportunity to fully participate in the care of our patients. A fulfilling mix of clinical experience, didactics, workshops, and simulation labs will ensure a challenging, educational, and thoroughly enjoyable elective rotation for those with an interest in EM.
Visiting Students
Visiting students from outside AUB with a sincere and serious interest in pursuing a career in Emergency Medicine and who would like to experience an exciting and enriching month are encouraged to visit our program by applying for an elective by submitting the application to the Dean’s office first for approval.
Students are expected to be present for approximately 14 shifts a month. Students will be assigned to morning and evening shifts in all the sections of the department. Visiting students are welcome to participate in the educational activities taking place at the department. Students will be accepted on a first come, first served basis, depending on the completion date of their file. Please find the instructions and application form
here.
Elective positions are reserved for the most competitive of students: many students apply each year but only those with the most compelling profiles will be accepted. Students from institutions that have affiliation with AUB/AUBMC will have a competitive advantage.