Tulane/University Hospital
New Orleans
2-Week Emergency
Medicine Rotation
Student Handbook 2009-10
Table of Contents
1. Contact information
2. Orientation handout
3. Case Log
4. Sample shift card
5. Campus map
6. Core clerkship articles
Contact information
Clerkship Directors:
Jennifer Avegno, MD
Clerkship Director
(504) 903-3594 (office)
(504) 301-5058 (cell)
Roderick Bennett, MD
Assistant Clerkship Director
(504) 903-3594 (office)
Mailing Address: Section of Emergency Medicine
LSUHSC – New Orleans
1542 Tulane Avenue Room 542
Box T4 M2
New Orleans, LA 70112
Emergency Medicine Clerkship and Residency Office:
Kathy Whittington, Residency Coordinator
Shanel Sede, Clerkship Assistant
University Hospital room 535
2021 Perdido Street
New Orleans, LA 70112
(504) 903-3594 (phone)
(504) 903-4569 (fax)
Emergency Department:
Main Emergency Room (MER): (504) 903-3144
Fast Track (FT): (504) 903-3300
Tulane/University Hospital – New Orleans Emergency Medicine Clerkship
Rotation Guidelines
Welcome to University Hospital and New Orleans Emergency Medicine! We are pleased that you have chosen to rotate with us. Historically, this has been one of the most popular EM rotations in the country, and we will continue to work hard at providing you with an excellent educational experience. Please read the following information carefully and do not hesitate to contact us at any time with suggestions or questions.
Course Objectives:
- To obtain insight into the principles and practice of emergency medicine and trauma care in the Emergency Department (ED)
- To improve clinical and technical skills in an emergency setting and develop familiarity with ambulatory care
- To obtain skills in simple suturing, eye examinations, gynecological exams, and other common emergency procedures
- To perform a focused, complete history and physical and develop an appropriate differential diagnosis, plan and disposition on undifferentiated patients
- To observe and learn coordinated, efficient, and expert management of seriously ill medical and trauma patients
Emergency Medicine (EM) is a broad, complex discipline with a wealth of patient encounters unmatched by most other specialties. Regardless of your future career choice, you will face unexpected acute medical emergencies in your professional or personal lives. Evaluation of the undifferentiated patient – that is, figuring out who is truly “sick” or “not sick” – is one of the most elusive yet important skills for any physician. Through this rotation, we aim to provide you with basic skills in acute medical care, including simple and common procedures, and provide you with an evidence-based foundation for approaching patient care. Furthermore, by one-on-one interactions with faculty and residents, we hope to illustrate to you that every patient encounter can result in both formal and informal teaching and education. Evidence-based learning should occur as often as possible during the course of your shift. Finally, we intend to provide you with a healthy understanding of how a modern ED and trauma unit operates.
You will be working in several locations at University Hospital (UH): the Main Emergency Room (MER) and Fast Track (FT). In each location, you will be supervised by board-certified EM faculty and have the opportunity to work with EM residents and interns as well as off-service interns from both LSU and Tulane. You will be responsible for seeing your own patients. After performing an H&P, you may present the patient either to an EM resident or directly to staff for guidance. All procedures must be directly supervised by an EM resident or staff, and EM staff must review the case and sign the patient’s chart prior to discharge. At shift change, you must sign out and provide detailed information on any active patients to oncoming students or interns.
Major trauma resuscitations will be done by the upper-level EM resident with staff backup. The EM resident serves as team leader and will assign you a role in the management and care of trauma patients, and you are expected to observe and participate in each resuscitation.
Course Requirements:
- 6 12-hour shifts divided between the MER and FT. MER and FT shifts are from 7 am – 7 pm and 7 pm – 7 am. A schedule template will be provided prior to and during orientation. Please look over the template carefully and pick out a few schedule choices prior to coming to orientation. All students will pick a number (1-16), and you will choose your schedule in that order. All LSU/Tulane school holidays are considered rotation holidays as well, but you may work them if you choose.
o ATTENDANCE AT YOUR SHIFTS IS MANDATORY. If you are ill or have an emergency, you must either call the course director or the ED and let the attending staff know you will not be there. Students who fail to show up for a scheduled shift will be assigned an extra penalty shift. NO EXCEPTIONS!
o Much thought has gone into the scheduling process. To optimize patient and ED flow, the level of student staffing is as consistent as possible.
o Any special circumstances regarding shift scheduling must be discussed with the course director as far in advance as possible.
o When you have made the master schedule, please give it to Ms. Shanel Sede in our office, UH room 535. She will post it on the website as well as in the MER and FT areas.
- Faculty lectures. On most Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8 am you will receive lectures from EM faculty and residents on a variety of core EM topics. These lectures are informal and frequently interactive, and have been very popular in the past. These are mandatory lectures; if you foresee any problems with attending a certain lecture, please let me know ahead of time. The schedule of lecturers and topics is posted on the Yahoo! calendar.
You will be able to access this calendar at any time to view the student schedule by signing into Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com) with:
ID: lsuemclerkship
password: university
In addition to traditional didactic lectures, each 4 week block will include hands-on simulation and procedure labs, as well as ultrasound instruction.
- Daily evaluations. Students will be evaluated daily by faculty and/or residents during each ED shift. At the end of each shift, simply hand your shift card for that day to the appropriate staff or upper-level resident. Please do not give your evaluation card to an EM or off-service intern. The staff or upper-level resident will fill it out and drop it in the appropriate box. Please feel free to discuss your evaluation with staff at any time.
○ A daily log of patient encounters and procedures is also required. All log sheets must be turned in at the end of the rotation to the EM offices (room 535 University Hospital).
o Preventive medicine. Students are expected to discuss preventive medicine issues with their patients. Not only is this critically important for future health and well-being, but it is also becoming a critical evaluation tool by medical governing bodies. You will be evaluated on discussions you have with your patients on issues such as smoking cessation, weight loss, diet, alcohol and drug use, and other preventive medicine issues. Feel free to refer your patients to any available resources (i.e., dietician, social work, etc.) during your conversations.
- Core reading material. Included in this manual are several journal articles and textbook chapters on core concepts in EM. They should serve as a starting point for your study of management of the acutely ill and/or undifferentiated patient. Evidence-based medicine is as important in EM as it is in other disciplines and should serve as the basis for evaluating, diagnosing, and managing patients in the ED. The end-of-rotation exam questions will be taken directly from these articles and the student lecture material.
- End of rotation exam. All students must complete a multiple-choice end of rotation online exam no later than the last day of the rotation. All questions in the test are taken directly from the reading material contained in the orientation packet. You will receive a link to the exam within the last week of the clerkship. Rotation evaluation and grading will not be complete until the test is submitted.
- Other scholarly opportunities:
o EM resident weekly conferences are held on Wednesdays from 7 am – 11 am in the UH basement conference room #103. Lectures are given each week by EM faculty and residents, as well as visiting guest speakers. You may attend these when not scheduled for a clinical shift; students working should remain in the ED while residents attend conference.
o Monthly EM Journal Club is held on the second Thursday of each month (usually at a restaurant). Students are invited but not required to attend.
Student Responsibilities
All students are expected to adhere to the same degree of professionalism as in any other clinical setting. Towards that end, students are expected to be on time for every shift. Any student arriving more than 10 minutes late on any occasion without good reason will be given a warning. As stated above, failure to show up for an assigned shift will result in an extra penalty shift. Repeated lateness will also result in an extra penalty shift. Timeliness is part of your evaluation and contributes to your professionalism score, which makes up 15% of your overall grade.
Students are allowed to make schedule switches as long as they clearly mark the changes on the master calendar posted in the ED. However, if you make a switch with another student, and that student fails to show up for the shift, it is the original student’s responsibility. Repeated problems with switching must be brought to the course director’s attention.
Proper hospital attire is required: either clean scrubs or professional dress. No t-shirts or open-toe shoes. Lab coat is optional. Your TU ID must be worn at all times.
Please keep running copies of your patient logs. Lost forms cannot be used in calculating your final grade. All forms must be turned into the course mailbox in the EM office at UH on the last day of your rotation.
Grades
Grades are based on the following:
1. Completing all shifts in the allotted rotation time.
2. Submitting patient log and evaluation form with all shifts accounted for within one week of rotation end.
3. Attendance (and timeliness) at all scheduled activities.
4. End of rotation exam.
Grades are pass/fail.
Please do not hesitate to contact us at any time during your rotation.
Thank you,
Jennifer Avegno MD Roderick Bennett MD
Medical Student Clerkship Director Assistant Clerkship Director
LSUHSC – New Orleans Section of Emergency Medicine
EM Residency and Clerkship Office: University Hospital Room 535
(504) 301-5058 (Dr. Avegno cell)
(504) 903-3594 (EM office)
TULANE/UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL EMERGENCY MEDICINE CLERKSHIP
Instructions: Students are expected to have the types and numbers of interactions with patients as shown below. In the appropriate column for each encounter, students must document the initials and dates of each patient interaction. A signature of the appropriate supervising resident or faculty for level II* or level IV* exams or procedures is required. This log must be returned to the clerkship director at the end of your clerkship. Indicate if patient is an inpatient, outpatient, standardized patient or computer/paper case. Please check appropriate location of encounter.
Encounter / Required Minimum / Level of Care* / Patient’s Initials/Date / Inpatient / Outpatient / Standard.Patient / Computer/
Paper Case / Signature if necessary
Chest pain / 1 / I
Wound care / 1 / I
Trauma – penetrating / 1 / I
Trauma – blunt / 1 / I
Abdominal pain/vomiting / 1 / II
Altered mental status / 1 / II
Pregnancy complications / 1 / I
Headache / 1 / II
Musculoskeletal pain / 1 / II
Weakness / 1 / II
Fever/infectious disease / 1 / II
Eye/ENT complaint / 1 / II
*Levels of care: I=Observe examination/management OR participate in patient discussion;
II=Examination and presentation to resident/faculty attending; III=observe procedure; IV=perform procedure
Student’s Printed Name: ______
Student’s Signature: ______
Sample Shift Card Page 1
TWO-WEEK EM CLERKSHIP EVALUATION
Shift # ______
Please evaluate the student listed below compared to other students that you have evaluated and return card to the designated box.
Student Name: ______
Date: ______AM/PM # patients seen _____
Location: MER FT Faculty/Resident:______
Grading Scale: 1-5 (5=performance far exceeds peers at same level of training; 4=performed above expectations for level of training; 3=performed as expected for level of training; 2=performed below expectation for level of training; 1=failed to meet rotation guidelines) – CIRCLE ONE:
Patient Care SkillsThe student demonstrates appropriate empathy for and interaction with patients, and uses diagnostic and therapeutic tools towards patient care. / 1 2 3 4 5
Communication
The student demonstrates appropriate and forthright interactions with patient, family, physicians, and ED staff. / 1 2 3 4 5
Knowledge Base
The student shows an appropriate level of medical knowledge and understanding of disease processes, and integrates knowledge into decision making. / 1 2 3 4 5
Preventive Medicine/Systems-Based Practice
The student actively engages in discussions of preventive medicine with patients, and uses health care resources efficiently to improve patient care. / 1 2 3 4 5
Professionalism
The student is courteous, respectful, interacts with others in an effective manner, and displays a strong work ethic. / 1 2 3 4 5
Evidence-Based Learning
The student efficiently integrates on-shift learning and pursuit of knowledge into patient care and decision-making, and is enthusiastic about education. / 1 2 3 4 5
(please complete reverse side)
Sample Shift Card Page 2
OVERALL PERFORMANCE EVALUATION:
(please check appropriate box)
□ acceptable (performs duties at level expected of student)
□ unacceptable (needs remediation)
Y N The student arrived on time for his/her shift. (circle one)
Please provide any other comments for this student:
______
Signature of person completing form Date
PLACE COMPLETED CARD IN DESIGNATED BOX