Nationally, there is a perceived need for medical students to better document the satisfactory mastery of clinical skills on each of the required clerkships. The Clinical Skills Requirement Checklist provide one mechanism for such documentation.  Orientation to this site on OASIS should have already been done.  This site contains a listing of those clinical experiences each student should encounter while on the clerkship.  Each encounter requires that you actively participate in the history, physical diagnosis, and management.  The clinical encounters/skills must be observed and documented by the online signature from a member of the resident staff (PGY2 or 3) or Faculty.  It is your responsibility to keep up with these checklists and to ask housestaff or Faculty to sign off (ideally at the time of observation).  You have the entire two month block to complete this but do not wait until the end.  Each skill should be performed in a satisfactory manner, without a value judgment on part of the observer.  If a skill is performed in a satisfactory manner, the resident or faculty member can sign off on that skill.  If the skill is not performed satisfactorily during that observation, the resident or faculty member does not sign off on the skill but should give you some instruction in correct performance so that you can practice the skill before trying again, perhaps later in the clerkship.

Upper level residents (PGY-2 or -3) can sign off on specific clinical skills, however, faculty must sign off on the development of a differential diagnosis and plan of management, admission and follow-up notes, presentations, and, obviously, feedback.  Note that faculty conducting physical diagnosis rounds at UVA, Roanoke or Salem, are good sources of instruction and signatures. 

Although the checklists are not graded, they must be completed for you to receive credit for the clerkship.  They do not directly influence your grade, however, observing your performing these skills may give the residents or faculty members better perspective on which to base their evaluations.  Students are expected to complete 100% of the Clinical Skills Requirement Checklist online in OASIS.  We will be tracking your progress throughout the clerkship. 

COMMON MEDICAL PROBLEMS

The range of patients that you will see over the two months of the clerkship cannot be predicted with precision.  University Hospital operates with a panel of Service Centers (e.g. Heart Center, Cancer Center, Digestive Health Center of Excellence) on which students can rotate in their fourth year.  Thus patients with some types of primary illness may not be seen during the required third year clerkship.  Still, some conditions are so common and basic that you should try to be involved in the care of at least one patient with each of the following clinical issues: