Rural and Community Care Clerkship

Assignments & Expectations

Other than seeing patients and reading, we ask students to do a few things:

• Students need to meet with their preceptor on the first day of patient care to discuss their strengths and weaknesses. Students complete the Rural & Community Care Learning Contract and Mid-Clerkship Evaluation form and use it to outline personal goals for this clerkship. Discuss goals on the first day and then meet again half way through the clerkship to discuss your progress and see how successful you are in seeing the problems listed on the competencies page.
• You will keep a log of patients you see during the clerkship and will be entering them into a PDA or web-based database. Bring the Procedure Log data to your mid-course meeting and use the data when you meet. Submit a copy of your Procedure Log summary to our office after each of the clerkships that make up a the eight-week block.

Specific Assignments

1. Community Service Learning: The provider's link to the community will be explored and you will take an active role in community education during the four-week experience. The regional Area Health Education Centers (AHECs) have arranged with your host community to provide you with an opportunity to give a health related talk.
2. Students will be asked to use decision and screening tools for various chronic and acute diseases such as depression and cardiovascular diseases.
3. During both clerkships, students will be expected to investigate and report with a PowerPoint presentation on Chronic Disease Management, including community resources related to one of your patients and compare your practice communities (Adult Ambulatory Care site, Rural & Community Care site, and subspecialty clinic).
4. During both clerkships, students will complete CVD Risk Score Cards. Students will be asked to practice generating 10 cardiovascular disease risk score cards for their patients during the Primary Care Block, to contract with those patients for changes in their lifestyle, and to attain disease-specific goals (BP, cholesterol, HbA1c benchmarks, etc.)
5. During both clerkships, students will learn skills at assessing common skin lesions and be tested on them at the conclusion of the eight-week block. Ask for supervision during the performance of at least one head-to-toe skin cancer screening exam.
6. During both clerkships students will learn skills at assessing common oral lesions and be tested on them at the conclusion of the eight-week block. Ask for supervision during the performance of at least one oral screening exam (palpation of floor of mouth and using gauze to deviate the tongue in order to examine its lateral aspect).
7. Students need to get on a computer and participate in online discussions each week. These discussions relate to some of the assignments above and issues related to rural and community based care.