Inpatient/Outpatient US Clinical Experience in Family Medicine in Houston

Information about this clinical experience:

This is an inpatient and outpatient experience during which you will be under the supervision of a board-certified family medicine physician. This attending is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Houston College of Medicine and has extensive experience precepting medical students in this role.

In addition to spending time in the clinic and hospital, you may have the opportunity to join the physician in the care of hospice patients and make house calls. The physician also performs procedures in the practice, and this will be an excellent chance for you to observe the range of procedures that a typical family medicine physician performs.

The inpatient component will take place at a rehabilitation hospital. This is a hospital that specializes in the rehabilitation of patients recovering from acute illnesses and injuries. Patients seen at this hospital are medically complex with a wide range of issues such as brain injury, neurological disorders, cardiopulmonary conditions, and stroke. Some patients are recovering from surgery. The hospital has specialized personnel such as physical, occupational, and speech therapists to support patients in the recovery process.

Another part of this experience is wound care. Since wound care receives relatively little attention during medical school education, this will be an excellent opportunity to learn how different wounds are evaluated and managed.

The physician is also active in local medical societies and is open to taking students to their meetings. This will allow you to see how a group of physicians comes together to discuss important issues of the day, advocate for change, and support one another.

Please note that 30-40% of patients seen in the practice are Spanish-speaking.

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

• Taking patient histories under supervision

• Presenting patients

• Writing or entering notes in the EMR

• Have opportunities to research the literature to answer clinical questions at the point of care.

• Spending time with other healthcare professionals 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.