Advanced Practice Selective

Course Overview

The Advanced Practice Selective (APS) is required for fourth-year students. The APS allows you to delve deeply into selective aspects of physician endeavor within a specialty of your choosing. A curriculum in systems based practice (SBP) is also part of this selective. During the month, you will spend approximately 70% of your time (14 days, minimum) working with your clinical attending, and 30% of your time (6 days) on the systems based practice curriculum. These two components are meant to complement each other; however, the SBP curriculum is standardized across the clinical sites.

Grading for the course is pass/fail. Criteria for achieving a passing grade are:

1. Satisfactory attainment of clinical goals as assessed by your clinical preceptor on the end of rotation form.
2. Demonstrated professional behavior as assessed by your clinical professor on the end of rotation form.
3. Satisfactory work on the systems based practice curriculum submitted to and assessed by the SBP faculty director, Dr. Anne Mounsey.
4. Attendance: Students cannot miss more than two days of the clinical portion of this rotation unless they receive permission from the Course Director, Dr. Robert Gwyther.

Details of the course will be discussed on the first day of the rotation.

Where to report on the first day of the rotation: This will be held in Chapel Hill. Students should report at 9:00AM to:

Family Medicine Building

The schedule for the day is:

• 8:30-9:30: Course Overview: Bob Gwyther, MD
• 9:30-10:30: Medical Practice in the USA: Current Issues and Concerns: Bob Gwyther, MD
• 10:30-11:30: Issues with Access to Care: Anne Mounsey, MD
• 11:30-12:30: Patient Safety: Anne Mounsey, MD
• 12:30-1:30: Lunch
• 1:30-4:00: Guest Lecture – changes every block

How to choose your clinical site

There are over 60 clinical sites representing most major clinical departments. A complete listing of the clinical sites and which months they are taking students can be accessed through the One45 system under ‘handouts and links’. Under Yr3 Clerkship (you may need to click to open it) click link to Advanced Practice Selective course offerings.

To sign up, list the sites, in the order that you want them, on your APS scheduling sheet that is submitted to Leanne Shook.in April.

Please note that several of our recruited sites require permission from the faculty member who created the rotation. The name of the faculty member is on one45 in the Excel document listing Advanced Practice Selective course offerings under the Handouts and Links for the Yr 3 Clerkship and Yr 4 Clerkship. (Select Handouts and Links from the menu in your one45 account, you may need to click Yr3 Clerkship or Yr4 Clerkship to see the link to the document). Descriptions of individual sites can be found on the Electives/Selective page of the 4th year curriculum. http://www.med.unc.edu/md/fourthyear/electives-selectives/

Setting up an external site: If you would like to do set up your own clinical experience, then take the following steps:

1. Determine the specialty and the location. You can take this rotation outside North Carolina and outside the UNC system if you wish.
2. Contact the APS course committee faculty (see list below) who represents your chosen specialty. The course committee faculty member will need a description of what you will be doing and contact information of the faculty member who will be supervising you. That individual will need to agree to let you have 30% time (approximately 6 days) to complete the Systems Based Practice curriculum that is part of this rotation. Dr. Anne Mounsey will serve this role for all those specialties that do not have a faculty on the APS course committee.
3. You will need to submit the APS course committee faculty member’s permission when you submit your scheduling sheet by April 17th at 5 pm to to Leanne Shook.

Career Decision Making

• If you are sitting on the fence between two specialties, consider taking the APS before the end of August of your fourth year. Working closely with a faculty member in one of the areas that you are considering will likely help you make up your mind.
• If you know the specialty in which you want to match and are considering UNC for your residency, same message applies: take the APS early. Consider asking your attending for a letter of recommendation if you think the rotation went well.
• Considering doing an audition rotation at an institution in which you are interested. This will require some additional work on your part to set up. You will need to work with the appropriate faculty member who sits on the APS Course Committee (see list below) to set this up.

Addressing Personal Clinical Deficits

There are likely some clinical skills in which you feel weak. Consider the APS as a way of gaining proficiency in that area. If that is the case, then it doesn’t matter when in the academic year you take the APS. Taking it in the spring, after a busy fall recruiting season might be to your advantage.

More Details about APS
Schedule for ASP Speaker Series 2009-2010