During their time on the ward, the students function as key members of the clinical teaching unit, and are given and expected to take considerable responsibility. Under supervision they carry a patient load of 2-7 patients and provide comprehensive care to these patients. They do the admission history and physical, communicate daily with the families, write daily progress notes, chase down results, communicate with consultants and outside physicians, and write discharge summaries. On daily rounds, they report on their patients and management is discussed and planned. Most students are able to function at a very high level and they are perceived as important members of the health care team by the patients, their families and by the residents.
Students carry pagers and are on call at night and on weekends on a rotational basis.
This rotation functions as a true clerkship where students learn primarily by taking care of patients and dealing with real illness. In the ambulatory component of the clerkship the students work in the emergency departments of the hospital, both medical and surgical, and in some of the clinic areas, e.g., asthma centre and dermatology clinic. In addition there are many teaching sessions in small group format. Also in the outpatient setting, the students have first contact with the patients and present their findings and plans to the supervising attending staff. Because the emergency department is so busy and there are many patients who are not acutely ill, there are huge numbers of appropriate patients for junior trainees.