University of Virginia Health System

Medical Student Rotation Outline

Dermatology Externship (1201--below)
Cutaneous Surgery (1202)

Objectives | Rotation Supervisor | Duration | Time to Report | Place to Report
Number of Students per Rotation | Arranged Rotation | Outside Medical Students
Clinic Requirements | Educational Curriculum | Presentation | Examination | Evaluation | Grievances

The goal of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Virginia Health System is to provide medical students with an outstanding dermatologic experience. This includes ensuring that they attain a basic knowledge of skin disease that will enable them to practice medicine and facilitate the passing of dermatologic questions on national accreditation examinations.

This will be accomplished by "hands on" clinical evaluation of patients with skin disease under the close supervision of dermatology faculty and residents. The clinical experience will be complimented by academic small group lectures specific for the medical student, required textbook review as well as by a written and visual examination.

Objectives:

1. Students will be able to obtain a history from patients pertinent to their presenting skin disease.
   
2. Students will be able to adequately perform physical examination of the skin, hair, nails and mucosal surfaces as well as describe any disease using dermatologic terminology.
   
3. Students will be able to correlate history and physical findings, present a differential diagnosis and formulate diagnostic and/or treatment plans.
   
4. Students will be able to perform diagnostic skin tests (i.e. shave biopsy, punch biopsy) and perform appropriate suture closures as indicated.
   
5. Students will be able to perform and analyze office laboratory procedures used in diagnosing skin disorders. These include: potassium hydroxide preps, cytodiagnostic preps, ectoparasite preps, hair mounts, patch tests and wood's lamp examination.
   
6. Students will attend all resident and medical student lectures.
   
7. Students must pass the end of rotation examination (65% or higher) in order to successfully complete the rotation.
   
8. Students must give a brief 10 minute verbal/visual presentation on an assigned topic.

Clinic Requirements:

1. All medical students will be expected to report to the clinic conference room every morning from 8:00 to 9:00 AM Monday through Friday, except for Wednesday, for the morning dermatology resident lecture. The small group medical student dermatology lectures will be given in the clinic conference room by a faculty member periodically throughout the rotation.
   
   
2. All medical students will be assigned to a Dermatology attending or Dermatology resident daily for clinic, Monday through Friday, morning and afternoon. Clinic begins every morning at 0900hr and every afternoon at 1300hr. Promptness is mandatory. All students will actively participate in patient care under the direction and supervision of the physician they are assigned to. The medical student bulletin board will have the assignments for each student. The dermatology residents will be in charge of assignments. Any scheduling problems should be addressed to them.
   
   
3. The clinic duty ends at the conclusion of the final patient appointment. Attendings or residents may, however, release students earlier depending on any given circumstance.
   
   
4. Their will be no call requirements for rotating medical students
   
   
5. All rotating medical students will use Universal precautions when working within the Dermatology department.
   

Educational Curriculum:

It will be a requirement that rotating students read on this rotation after clinic hours. The textbook "Skin Disease: Diagnosis and Treatment" by Thomas P. Habif, will be the selected textbook for review. A copy will be provided for the duration of the rotation. The end of rotation examination will be taken directly from the chapters and small group lectures. In addition, medical students can access the larger parent textbook by Dr. Habif (Clinical Dermatology: A Color Guide to Diagnosis and Therapy) on the Internet through MDConsults at the Library web site. (http://home.mdconsult.com/groups/uva021656.html) Those students interested may purchase this textbook (also in a CD-rom format), because it will be an excellent reference textbook for later use, but it is not mandatory.

The rotating medical students will have once weekly small group lectures every Monday. These lectures will be given by a Dermatology faculty member and are subject to change. They consist of the following:

1. Introduction to Skin and Papulosquamous Disorders
2. Cutaneous Infections
3. Cutaneous Tumors
4. Skin Signs of Internal Disease and Hair/Nail Disorders

Also available to students are educational CDs on nail disorders, acne and other follicular disorders, blistering disorders of the skin, and general dermatology general for use in the clinic library computer.

Presentation:

The dermatology residents will assign a single dermatologic disease topic that the medical student will prepare a maximum 10 minute oral presentation, if the medical student does not have a topic of interest. This will be during resident lecture time on the last week of the rotation. The format will consist of the following:

1. Epidemiology and Etiology
2. Clinical Manifestations
3. Treatment
4. Prognosis

Presentations can include clinical photographs and the student can resource the Department of Dermatology's vast Kodachrome collection.  The student may also use the department's audiovisual equipment for Powerpoint presentations.

Examination:

On the final day of the rotation the rotator will be given a 25 question written exam and a 20 question 35mm Kodachrome slide identification exam. An overall score of 65% must be obtained for a passing grade. The exam will be based on the textbook by Thomas Habif, as noted above, and lectures.

Evaluation:

The University of Virginia School of Medicine elective evaluation form will be completed by the rotation supervisor at the completion of the 4 week time period. The rotator will be evaluated based on their performance in clinic, interaction with patients and staff, their oral presentation and examination scores.

The Department of Dermatology will require the rotator ( in order to receive their evaluation) to complete evaluations at the end of the Dermatology rotation to help us better serve the medical student community.

Grievances:

Any rotating medical student who may have a complaint or problem that develops during his rotation is encouraged to see the rotation supervisor.