Undergraduate Medical Education
Pediatrics Clerkship at Boston Children’s Hospital
As part of the core clerkship year, the Pediatrics Clerkship at Boston Children’s is intended to give Harvard Medical Students a broad introduction to pediatric medicine, to develop comfort with interacting with pediatric patients and their families, and to build skills in the examination of pediatric patients.
The six-week long clerkship will provide experiences in the outpatient primary care clinic seeing both well children and those presenting for evaluation of an urgent complaint; in the newborn nursery; and on the inpatient wards.
Goals, Objectives and Competencies
Goals:
- To use pediatrics as a model to teach the core skills of clinical medicine
- To understand the importance of development (e.g. physiologic, psychosocial) as a concept within pediatrics
- To develop familiarity with commonly encountered acute and chronic pediatric conditions
- To communicate effectively with patients, their families and members of the healthcare team
- To understand the importance of providing family-centered care
- To foster professional relationships among a healthcare team
Objectives:
PATIENT CARE:
- To be able to perform an age-appropriate, focused history and physical exam tailored to the patient.
- EPAs 1a, 1b
- To be able to articulate a management plan based upon the patient’s presentation, being mindful of chronic conditions and the larger care team.
- EPAs 2, 3, 7, 9
CRITICAL THINKING AND INQUIRY:
- To be able to formulate differential diagnoses and management plans; this process will include critical evaluation of the primary and secondary literature.
- EPAs 1a, 1b, 2, 3, 7
INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION:
- To be able to effectively and professionally communicate information about the patient, history and physical, diagnosis, and treatment plan to other members of the clinical care team and to the patient/family.
- EPAs 5, 6, 9
MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE:
- To be able to recognize common pediatric conditions. Refer to requirements log for additional details.
- EPAs 1a, 1b, 2, 3
PROFESSIONALISM:
- To demonstrate intellectual curiosity, initiative, responsibility, reliability, and ethical behavior in patient care and self-directed learning.
- EPAs 7, 9
ORGANIZATIONAL/SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF CARE:
- To be able to use an understanding of cultural, socioeconomic, gender, age and developmental related issues in patient and family interactions and clinical decision making.
- EPAs 1a, 1b, 2, 6
- To understand different models of delivering health care in a variety of settings, including the importance of the pediatric medical home.
- EPA 9
Competencies:
Competency 1: History taking and physical examination skills (Data gathering)
The student will be able to obtain a complete history and perform a complete physical examination on all patients across all pediatric age groups including newborns, infants, toddlers, children, and adolescents.
Competency 2: Data presentation skills
The student will effectively and professionally communicate information about the patient, history and physical, diagnosis and treatment plan to other caregivers and to the patient/family.
Competency 3: Core knowledge and clinical thought process
The student will be able to recognize common pediatric conditions and formulate differential diagnoses and management plans. When a particular diagnosis is not seen via clinical encounters, additional reading materials including CLIPP cases may be used to augment learning.
Competency 4: Professionalism and interpersonal skills
The student will demonstrate intellectual curiosity, initiative, responsibility, and reliability in patient care and self-directed learning.
Typical Schedule
The clinical clerkship in pediatrics is made up of four different experiences. Each student will have a slightly different schedule, including:
- two weeks caring for inpatient general pediatric patients
- two weeks of “selective” either on a sub-specialty inpatient rotation, in the ED, or additional time on general pediatrics
- one week in the outpatient clinic
- one week in the newborn nursery
On the Inpatient services (both general pediatric and sub-specialty), hours are typically 6:20am-5:00pm. Students will rotate through a block of 2-3 nights, 5:30pm-7:30am. While weekend and holiday responsibilities will be rare, there will be some weekend nights and ED shifts.
The nursery and outpatient weeks are call-free without weekend responsibilities. Hours are typically 8:00am-5:00pm.
The weekend after the shelf is off for all students.