Clinical Training of medical students is the cornerstone of the EUC medical curriculum, where clinics and hospitals affiliated with EUC are selected to constitute unique learning environments for our medical students. While the healthcare providers of the hospital and clinic supervise the in-house educational program, every affiliated hospital and clinic adheres to the precepts and standards established by the EUC clinical curriculum, as outlined and detailed in the EUC Clinical Training Manual. Routine meetings between the EUC course directors and the heads of the clinical health care departments, facilitates open communication and clearly defined clinical educational goals.
The EUC School of Medicine retains the ultimate and final right to evaluate the student’s overall academic accomplishments within the clinical training program. The School of Medicine will determine whether or not: 1) a student is able to advance to the next level within the medical curriculum, 2) a student fails or passes, 3) remediation is required, whenever necessary, and 4) the student has fulfilled all necessary requirements to be granted a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree. The Medical School ensures that all students fulfill health care requirements required by hospitals; and only assigns students to hospitals with academic qualifications consistent with the demands of the clinical program provided by the hospital.
All teaching hospitals and clinics have been carefully selected to ensure their facilities meet EUC’s standards. Each affiliated hospital and clinic demonstrate a continuing commitment to medical education and furnishes the necessary infrastructure to facilitate a successful clinical training program.
EUC follows the directives of the General Medical Council (GMC) publications The Doctor as Teacher and Good Medical Practice, which outline what is expected of doctors with teaching responsibilities, including those who supervise medical students. In alignment with the Principles of Good Medical Education and Training, EUC adheres to the following principles:
- Clinicians with responsibilities for teaching and training will be provided by EUC the opportunity to improve and develop appropriate knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors required for teaching medical students.
- Medical students and clinical instructors will have appropriate teaching and learning resources.
- These resources will be regularly reviewed and assessed.
According to the collaboration scheme with clinical training sites, students have adequate patient access to cover the disciplines within each educational pillar, specifically:
- Internal Medicine I: cardiology, respiratory medicine, nephrology;
- Surgery I: general Surgery & anesthesiology;
- Internal Medicine II: hematology, oncology, gastrointestinal, internal medicine and endocrinology;
- Surgery II: orthopedics, general surgery, emergency department, intensive care;
- Neuroscience/Mental Health I: neurology and neurosurgery;
- Maternal/Child Health I: obstetrics, gynecology;
- Neuroscience/Mental Health II: psychiatry, ophthalmology, otorhinolaryngology;
- Maternal/Child Health II: pediatrics;
- Family Medicine/Primary Care.
An essential feature of clinical training consists of in-depth contact with patients. Students take histories, examine the patient, propose diagnostic and therapeutic plans, record their findings, present cases, perform minor procedures under supervision, attend all scheduled lectures and conferences, participate in rounds with their peers and teachers, maintain a patient log and study extensively about their patients’ diseases. In surgical departments, attendance in the operating room is required. In special departments (e.g. prenatal and postpartum clinics, endoscopy units, etc.), attendance is mandatory; patients they are assigned to must be followed through their different procedures.
A physician, nurse or other healthcare provider must be present in the room while students examine patients. This is especially true for examinations of intimate body areas. Minor procedures may be performed on patients after adequate instruction has been given and certification documented in the Student Logbook as permitted by hospital policy and governmental regulations. Students must become familiar with the electronic medical record or patients’ charts and know where to locate its individual components. Students are responsible for patient workups and might also write daily progress notes as stipulated by the EUC curriculum and hospital policy.
Students are expected to be on duty throughout the hospital workday, Monday through Friday. Evening, weekend, and holiday on-call schedules may be the same or less than those for the resident team to which the student is assigned, depending on the requirements of the EUC curriculum. Students are given protected academic time for self-study and exam preparation before final exams. While all clerkship directors must comply with this policy, they do have the option of allowing additional time off for study.