Medical Humanities Year 4 Clerkship

Medical Humanities offers a clerkship for Year 4 Medical Students

DOCTORING: MEDICAL HUMANITIES CLERKSHIP-YEAR 4 SOCIETY, LAW, AND HEALTH CARE: THE PHYSICIAN AND SOCIETY

 

Goals

  • Discuss the physician’s role in the administration of justice, with emphasis on describing an overview of the judicial process, including physician involvement as an expert witness in civil and criminal litigation.
  • Explain the legal and professional structures that regulate the conduct of physicians as expert witnesses.
  • Evaluate how physicians participate in civil litigation through an evidence deposition.
  • Describe the health care system in the United States, discussing its strengths and inadequacies, and comparing it with other health care systems.
  • Describe the economics, financing, and cost of health care in the United States.
  • Discuss policy issues of access to and availability of health care for vulnerable populations in the United States.
  • Explain the concept of parity for mental health care services and describe social and economic barriers to achieving parity.
  • Discuss issues in ensuring quality in medical practice and patient-centered clinical decision-making in the context of the current health care environment.
  • Compare ethical, legal, and policy issues arising in fee-for-service medicine and in managed care.
  • Describe mechanisms through which health care industries seek to influence physician behavior, the conduct of clinical research, and the regulatory powers of the federal government.

 

Structure

Two classroom approaches will be used throughout the learning experience: (1) plenary sessions (e.g., seminars, panel discussions); and (2) tutor groups. During plenary sessions, core material will be presented. The information provided complements required reading assignments. In conjunction with required readings, the content of plenary sessions will constitute the major basis for written examinations.

Tutor group sessions are designed to allow in-depth exploration of the material covered during plenary presentations. Approximately seven students are assigned to each tutor group. These students will meet with the same tutor during all sessions. Each student will be responsible for formally presenting assigned cases in the tutor group setting. Because tutor group participation constitutes an important part of the overall performance evaluation, significant responsibility is given to students in the tutor groups to identify relevant learning issues, present individual cases, and elucidate learning issues that pertain to those cases. All students are expected to interact as informed participants in the discussion of cases presented by other students during each tutor group session.

Mandatory attendance at all scheduled activities is required.  A sign-in sheet will be utilized for each class period.  Students with unexcused absences during the two-week Doctoring Clerkship will receive consequences, such as a lower overall grade for the Clerkship.