Pediatric Clerkship
The basic course in pediatrics for all students is a six-week clerkship in the second year. Its principal aim is to provide an exposure to the field of child health. The student has a diverse series of experiences which provide a comprehensive understanding of the underlying concepts of the discipline. Goals of the program include acquiring familiarity and competence with the basic tools of information-gathering (history, physical examination, and laboratory data) and developing an approach to the integration of this material for the solution of problems of health and illness in infancy, childhood, and adolescence. This should be accomplished with continuing reference to the basic principles of pathophysiology encountered in the first-year courses. Those patients to whom the student is assigned provide the focus for case studies.
In addition to the careful history and physical examination which must be recorded, the student is expected to organize an appropriate differential diagnosis and to seek and read pertinent reference material relevant to each patient. The student should learn to present each case verbally in an organized and succinct fashion, to follow the patient's progress, and to interpret all studies which are performed. The student is expected to learn from a number of sources, including Internet accessible multimedia clinical cases (CLIPP cases), standard textbooks and journals, current publications and conferences, and also from people--house staff, faculty, nurses, parents, and all others with whom contact is made in the clinical setting. Most importantly, students will learn from the children with whom they interact.
Objectives include an understanding of the roles played in pediatrics by other members of the health care team, both in the ambulatory and hospital settings. Patient care may involve nurse, social worker, recreation therapist, psychologist, physiotherapist, dietitian, and others. The six weeks are divided to include time in several of the following settings: (a) Duke primary care clinics, (b) Duke inpatient, (c) Duke Pediatric Emergency Department, (d) Duke or Duke Regional Hospital nursery, and (e) Lincoln Community Health Center. This course is not available for students from other institutions. If you have any questions about the clerkship, please contact the Director of Pediatric Medical Student Education, Samrat Umasankar Das, MBBS.
Selectives
These two week-courses are available to second year students associated with their clerkships in pediatrics or obstetric/gynecology. The Department of Pediatrics offers a number of selectives, including opportunities in Adolescent Medicine, Child Abuse Consult Service, Developmental Care of the Sick Newborn, Genetics and Metabolism, Pediatric Gastroenterology, Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, and Pediatric Neurology. NOTE: Not all selectives are available every term. Please refer to the Office of the Registrar website and look under “2nd Year MD Students” for a list of currently available selectives.