Phase II Clerkship

The Department of Surgery is committed to making our students’ rotations a positive educational experience. The goal of the surgery clerkship is to introduce the student to the principles of caring for the surgical patient. 

This goal is accomplished by allowing the student to participate in the care of patients in the various stages of evaluation and treatment by surgeons. These stages include but are not limited to the preoperative office or clinic visit, inpatient admission, operative procedure and inpatient and outpatient recovery. 

Through this exposure, the student will begin to understand the general process of the application of surgical therapy to patients in a wide variety of stages. By participating as a member of the surgical team, the student will observe the role of the surgeon as a member of the multidisciplinary team that provides care for the patient. 

Clerkship Objectives 

The clerkship is structured upon the principle that learning is an active process which can be accomplished only by the student. The role of the faculty and house staff is to provide guidance, stimulation and example. Here are a few things we like the student to accomplish: 

• Obtain an accurate medical history
• Perform an appropriately focused physical examination
• Accurately interpret and synthesize the history and physical findings
• Develop a rank ordered list of differential diagnoses
• Develop a plan for further investigations to confirm the diagnoses
• Discuss initial diagnostic impression and proposed workup plan with the patient 

This is also an opportunity for the student to explore surgery and its subspecialties while deciding upon a career path. 

This may be the only opportunity to get in the operating room and see anatomy at work. If the student is not going into a surgical subspecialty, they should use this opportunity to learn about patients’ perioperative course and what surgeons are looking for.