Inpatient US Clinical Experience in Internal Medicine in Houston

Information about this clinical experience:

You will be working with a distinguished physician who has made significant impacts on patient care, research, and teaching through several decades of practice in internal medicine. This attending physician is an experienced educator who has taught medical students, internal medicine residents, and fellows. The preceptor is a Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and on staff in the Department of Medicine at Houston Methodist Hospital. The physician has been very active in research. Journals in which the preceptor’s work have been published include Circulation, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Medicine, Circulation, and Hypertension. (Please note that there is an additional $450 charge for the Houston Methodist paperwork. This will be refunded to you after completing the paperwork.)

You will see patients with the preceptor and internal medicine residents in the hospital from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. Mornings will be spent rounding with the internal medicine residents and attending morning report and noon conferences. Afternoon rounds with the preceptor typically begin at 1 PM.

As the team is involved in the care of hospitalized older adults, rotators will learn about geriatric assessment, evaluation, and management. Some useful resources to guide your learning include the following:

Minimum Competencies in Geriatrics for Medical Students

Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment

History-Taking in the Older Adult

The Geriatric Assessment

As a future internal medicine resident, you will undoubtedly care for many older patients. Studies have shown that many physicians in practice feel that they have gaps in their knowledge when dealing with geriatric issues. Commonly cited gaps include addressing the complex, multifactorial nature of illness, setting priorities and goals for work-up and intervention, and communication with families and with patients with cognitive disorders. This clinical experience will be an excellent opportunity to strengthen your foundation in the care of these patients.

Although this experience is an observership, you will be integrated within the medical team and will therefore have opportunities to highlight many qualities and skills. Some examples:

• Communication skills: You will present patient cases to the team during attending rounds.

• Knowledge base: You will demonstrate your knowledge during attending rounds discussions.

• Diagnostic reasoning: The assessment and plan section of your oral case presentation will allow you to show listeners how you process large amounts of clinical data, form differential diagnoses, compare and contrast among different possibilities, and formulate the plan.

• Intellectual curiosity: Your in-depth reading of patient problems will allow you to task insightful questions.

• Interpersonal skills: As you will be part of a multidisciplinary team, there will be opportunities to assess your teamwork and interpersonal skills.

Of note, there may be opportunities to complete a project with this preceptor. If you are interested in taking part in a project, please let the preceptor know early in the rotation. The availability of a project is at the preceptor’s discretion.