Ambulatory Care Selective Memo

Dear Fourth Year Student:

The Ambulatory Care Selective (ACS) has two goals:

1. To provide students with advanced clinical experience in an area of their choosing;
2. To understand and explore some concepts of systems based practice and how they effect health care delivery.

To help focus your learning for this rotation, you must develop three specific objectives in the following areas:

• Two clinical skills that you wish to enhance, and

• One aspect related to “systems based care” that you will explore in depth. Definitions of systems based care and suggestions for projects are on the course website, which is located at: [http://www.med.unc.edu/md/fourthyear/electives-selectives/ambulatory-care-selective/]

Each participating department has a course administrator and a course coordinator, who will help you formulate these objectives and help you develop the required structure. It is your responsibility to contact the department coordinator at least one month in advance of the rotation. You should give your course objectives to your course administrator at least one month in advance of beginning the course.

Once you get into your community practice, you might discover that it lacks the resources needed to address the particular clinical skills or systems based care topic you have chosen. If this is the case, you may modify your objectives. Contact the course administrator if you make significant changes to your objectives.

Remember to confirm the time of your arrival at the preceptor’s office approximately one week in advance. Within a day or two of your arrival, be sure to discuss your objectives with your preceptor.

On the final day of the rotation, you will present your systems based care project to your departmental coordinator and/or your colleagues at the departmental wrap up session in Chapel Hill. The presentation should take no longer than 10 minutes. You must also turn in a written form of your presentation, which could be a copy of your power point slide presentation or a brief paper.

Success on this rotation depends upon your communication with your course administrator, coordinator, and community preceptor. I hope you learn a lot and have fun on the ACS. Please contact me if you have any problems.

Sincerely,

Robert E. Gwyther, MD, MBA

Professor of Family Medicine