Teaching Med Student Advice needed

[Momentum70]

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I have not had a med student with me since I was a resident. A friend reached out and asked if I would be ok with a MS4 that wants to go into PMR working with me. I asked what they were hoping to get out of the situation. They said they wanted to get inpatient experience and practice before going on rotations at residency programs. The closest PMR residency is about 4 hours away so they cant exactly visit a program associated with their school.

I know we have a few academic PMR attendings in this group. Any advice on curriculum or things to go over with the student if I agree to take them. Any resources to look at so I can help prepare them for academic setting. I was not planning on making this tough and want them to be able to study and prepare for interviews. However I also dont want it to be just a wasted 3-4 weeks. I dont really want to change my style but unsure if my shortened exams may hinder him. For instance I don't take out tuning forks and do full academic neuro exams. Appreciate any help.

 

[CopaceticOne]

I have not had a med student with me since I was a resident. A friend reached out and asked if I would be ok with a MS4 that wants to go into PMR working with me. I asked what they were hoping to get out of the situation. They said they wanted to get inpatient experience and practice before going on rotations at residency programs. The closest PMR residency is about 4 hours away so they cant exactly visit a program associated with their school.

I know we have a few academic PMR attendings in this group. Any advice on curriculum or things to go over with the student if I agree to take them. Any resources to look at so I can help prepare them for academic setting. I was not planning on making this tough and want them to be able to study and prepare for interviews. However I also dont want it to be just a wasted 3-4 weeks. I dont really want to change my style but unsure if my shortened exams may hinder him. For instance I don't take out tuning forks and do full academic neuro exams. Appreciate any help.

Just because you don’t do full neuro exams doesn’t mean the student can’t / shouldn’t.

What I did on inpatient medicine and in clinic was have the student see 1 patient to start, then could maybe increase to 2, and have then know all the things / do all the things. They get to tell me about what they learned, focusing on the important things (eg don’t care if the patient smoked MJ once 10yrs ago).

First they share the full exam findings to prove they know how to do it and what are the components. After they’ve proven it, I have them share the important / atypical / unexpected findings. They still document everything, but I don’t have to spend time on it.

Then we discuss what the everything means & what the plan is going to be. I don’t spend time on having them figure it out first. My reasoning for this approach, and I tell them this when they start, is that as a student the biggest thing they can get from me is learning / understanding my clinical reasoning. Them spending time & effort time trying to tease through minutia can be counterproductive to their learning when they go way down the wrong path. By having the discussion, I can help them develop their approach to clinical problem solving.

One important thing - I make sure to have a bit if time set aside so that they can ask, and we can discuss, why their instincts / reason for the incorrect path might have been wrong.

This isn’t an approach for everyone, but helped 1) keep things on schedule, 2) continued their learning, 3) seemed to be well received by the students at the end of the process.

I let residents flounder and go down the wrong paths because they need to develop their independence and put a stick in the ground with difficult clinical situations. Students on the other hand still really don’t know what they don’t know.