Inpatient/Outpatient US Clinical Experience in Family Medicine in Chicago

Information about this clinical experience:

You will be under the supervision of a family medicine physician who is on staff at several hospitals in the Chicago metropolitan area. This preceptor has been a longstanding member of the community and has served patients in inpatient and outpatient settings for over three decades.

The mornings will begin at the hospital providing care to medically complex patients. During hospital rounds, you will see a mix of patients on the wards and step-down units, as well as the ICU. As this physician co-manages inpatients with surgeons, this will be an excellent opportunity to learn how collaborative care is delivered in the preoperative and postoperative settings. As a future resident, you will encounter patients who are suffering from a range of postoperative complications. Understanding how these patients are evaluated and treated will prepare you to take care of these patients as a resident.

Following these hospital rounds, your morning will continue in the preceptor’s outpatient practice. In the clinic, you will see a range of issues with a focus on health promotion, disease prevention, and diagnosis and treatment of both acute and chronic illness. As a significant number of patients will have chronic conditions, this will be an excellent opportunity to become familiar with how family medicine physicians assess, monitor, and treat these problems. After clinic ends, you will return to the hospital on some days to see new patient admissions with the preceptor.

During your experience, you will learn the following U.S. medical practices under the preceptor’s supervision:

• Taking patient histories.

• Performing physical exams under the physician's supervision.

• Presenting patients.

• Navigating the EMR (Epic EMR)

• Researching the literature to answer clinical questions at the point of care.

• Educating patients.

• Spending time with other healthcare professionals in the office to understand their roles and responsibilities.

The activities above will mostly take place in the outpatient setting. As a result of hospital policies, inpatient activities will be more observational.