Learning Objectives

The overall goal of the Transition Clerkship is to help smooth the transition from the preclinical to the clinical years. It is hoped that at the conclusion of the Transition Clerkship students will feel better prepared and less anxious to start their clinical clerkships.

More specifically, it is expected that by the end of the Transition Clerkship all students will:

1. Understand the roles and responsibilities of a 3rd year medical student. 
2. Know what information they need to obtain during an orientation session to a ward service or an outpatient clinic experience.
3. Know how to complete their tasks as medical students on an inpatient team, including how to pre-round, organize patient data, present during rounds, write H&P and progress notes, call consults, write prescriptions, and follow patients during their hospital stay.
4. Understand how they should learn as 3rd year students, including the importance of self-directed, independent learning.
5. Understand how their performance as a 3rd year student will be evaluated. 
6. Understand how the concept of “Professionalism” relates to their lives as 3rd year students, including understanding how the focus during 3rd year changes from being centered on their learning to also encompassing patient and family care.
7. Understand what student mistreatment is (and is not) and know when and how to get help if needed.
8. Understand the importance of self care during years of clinical training that can be tiring and emotionally challenging.
9. Discuss with peers and clinically active faculty potentially difficult, yet common, situations that might arise during clinical training.
10. Understand important “Things to Know” about the hospital system, including the basic hospital layout, patient safety and privacy issues, and infection control measures.
11. Have a basic approach to the interpretation of chest and abdominal x-rays and understand the advantages and disadvantages of various imaging modalities. 
12. Complete Basic Life Support (BLS) training.
13. Practice basic procedures (including IV insertion, arterial blood gases and lumbar punctures) on patient simulator models.