Clinical Continuum

Course Goals | M1 Components | M2 Components | Attendance | Grading | FAQ's |
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Introduction to Patient Care (August - October):
This year's Introduction includes required training in infection control and privacy regulations as well as an introduction to cultural diversity and competence in patient care.
Questions about IPC activities or schedules should go to Stephanie Shaw, Course Coordinator, at 456-8207.

Mentor Program (October - May)
This part of the Clinical Continuum provides you with some relevant clinical experience. You will be assigned to a physician in the greater Milwaukee area for a monthly, three-hour, clinical office experience. With your Mentor, you will have an opportunity to observe and participate in real patient care situations. This is meant to provide immediacy and reality to the other learning activities of the Continuum and your basic science learning. The relationship with your Mentor also supports your professional socialization and development.

A select group of students will participate in a special geriatrics-oriented mentor experience that includes regular meetings with Geriatrics faculty and a relationship with a healthy elderly person.

Course Coordinator: Stephanie Shaw 456-8207
Senior Mentor Program Coordinator: 456-8710

Mentor Program Director: Joan Bedinghaus MD, 456-8207

Medical Information Management (MIM) (100 students October - February, 100 students February - May)
This course will introduce students to the skills needed to understand and to use new developments in medicine. Students will learn basic epidemiology concepts such as study designs, measurement, risk and causality. Students will be expected to interpret and to critically evaluate reports of medical research in order to apply them to patient care decision-making. The course will use a combination of lectures and case-based small group exercises. Case examples will be chosen to enhance other basic science courses or to illustrate common clinical topics likely to be encountered during the preceptor experience.

Course Coordinator: Stephanie Shaw 456-8207

Course Director: John O'Connor, MD 456-8207.

Foundations of Human Behavior (100 students October - February, 100 students February - May)
This course will present the basic knowledge base of human behavior from developmental and integrated family perspectives. Learning activities will include a 12-hour lecture series at the beginning of the course, an 11-week series of Problem-Based Learning sessions, and six sessions of Medical Interviewing using standardized patients.

Course Director: Michael McBride, MD
Course Coordinator: Kristine James 456-8992
Director of Interviewing sessions: Joan Bedinghaus, MD 456-8252

Clinical Examination and Reasoning: Focuses on physical exam techniques, system by system with patient demonstrations, followed by five precepted complete histories and physicals, scheduled in January and February. The course also includes small group discussions focusing on oral case presentation, clinical reasoning, and other skills.

The other two courses in the M-2 Clinical Continuum curriculum year are Medical Ethics and Palliative Medicine in the fall and Healthcare Systems in the spring.

 

Most of the learning in the Clinical Continuum involves the development of certain attitudes and skills. Since practice is an important element in the development of any skill, several portions of the Continuum require attendance.

Attendance at all Clinical Activities, small group learning sessions, PBL's, and Mentor visits will be required. Unexcused absences are unacceptable breaches of professional responsibility and will be considered a failure for that experience. Timely communications about absence-causing personal emergencies are expected. Contact your small group teacher or the course coordinator.

The mentor visits are an academic requirement and must be completed during the academic year. They cannot be "made up" in the summer. Students are responsible for reporting problems with scheduling mentor visits to the Continuum Office in time for possible alternatives to be arranged.

Students receive a grade for each component course as well as an overall Clinical Continuum grade each year. Students must receive at least a passing grade in each component course to pass the Clinical Continuum. Each component course explains its grading criteria in its syllabus.
M1: 33% comes from MIM, 33% from FHB, 10% from the IPC block, and 24% from the Mentor experience.
M2: 55% ICE, 35% Ethics and Palliative Medicine, 10% Health Systems.

A Fail in any of the components results in a Fail for the entire Clinical Continuum.

FAQ's

1. How is Clinical Continuum graded?
   
   Each academic year, you will receive a grade for each of the components listed above and an overall grade for the Continuum. The overall grade is a weighted average of the components.
   In the M1 year, each component contributes 33.3%.
   In the M2 year, the weights are listed below.
   A failing grade in any of the listed components will result in a failing grade for the Continuum as a whole.
   
   
2. Which courses make up the Clinical Continuum?
   
   In the M1 year: Foundations of Human Behavior (includes Interviewing)
   Medical Information Management
   Mentor Course (includes Intro. to Patient Care)
   
   In the M2 year: Ethics and Palliative Medicine (40%)
   Intro to the Clinical Examination (50%)
   Health Systems (10%)
   
   
3. How will the grades appear on my transcript?
   
   Here is an example of M1 grades:
   
   Clinical Continuum I: High Pass
   

   Foundations of Human Behavior: High Pass
   Medical Information Management: Honors
   Mentor: High Pass

   Here is an example of M2 grades:
   
   Clinical Continuum II: Pass
   

   Ethics and Palliative Medicine: High Pass
   Intro to the Clinical Exam: Pass
   Health Systems: Pass
   

Contacting Our Office

The Clinical Continuum office is located in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, in the Curative Rehabilitation Services Building in the northwest corner of the 1st floor. By phone, you can reach Dr. Bedinghaus and Stephanie Shaw at 456-8207. Our e-mail addresses are jbmd@mcw.edu and sshaw@mcw.edu. There is also a Clinical Continuum mailbox located next to the M1 open mailboxes on the 2nd floor of MEB for students to drop off messages and assignments.

Kristine James, the Foundations of Human Behavior Coordinator, is located in the Department of Psychiatry, in the Tosa Center, 1155 N. Mayfair Rd., Room 3855D. You can reach her by phone or e-mail at 456-8992 or kkjames@mcw.edu. Dr. Michael McBride, the Course Director, can be reached by e-mail at mmcbride@mcw.edu. He checks this e-mail about once a week.