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The clerkship is organized into two halves – Obstetrics and Gynecology. Four to five students will rotate through each service at a time and you will switch at the halfway point in the clerkship. During the Orientation session you should decide amongst yourselves which student will be assigned to each schedule – A,B,C,D etc.

• Requirements
• Evaluations
• Didactic Sessions
• Preceptorship
• Obstetrics
• Gynecology
• Sessions
• Medical Student Schedule
• Our History
• Departmental Structure

The course requirements are as follows:

1. Attendance is mandatory at all Thursday didactic sessions and preceptor sessions.
2. At the end of the clerkship each student must turn in one copy of a H&P from a GYN patient encounter at the 21 Audubon Clinic and the L&D Portfolio sheet from one patient encounter on Labor & Delivery.
3. At the end of the clerkship each student must have completed the PDA log of patient encounters required by the Dean’s office. This is a mandatory requirement of the course and students will not be able to receive their final grades until completed.
4. Each student must prepare a Patient Education handout/ pamphlet on the obstetrical or gynecologic topic of his/ her choice. The final product should be written in language that is easily understandable by a lay person and should contain factual, relevant information. At least three sources must be used in researching and preparing the material, with proper acknowledgement of sources. These pamphlets may be presented to the Resident Education Committee and other faculty members in the department, and stellar projects may be chosen for general distribution to our patients in the Audubon clinic.
   *Click here to see samples of patient education pamphlets produced by medical students.
5. Other informal presentations may be assigned by the Preceptor or by the Chief Resident on either the OB or GYN services.
6. The NBME shelf written examination and an OSCE, or objective structured clinical skills examination, will be given to all students on the last day of the clerkship.

Mid-Clerkship Feedback
The clerkship director will meet with each student for a brief feedback session around the mid-point of the clerkship. 

Evaluation Policy
Your final evaluation will be based on questionnaires submitted to the housestaff as well as direct observation by the clerkship director and preceptor and review of the materials submitted in your student portfolio.  Taken into consideration will be your fund of knowledge, data gathering ability, diagnostic problem solving ability, communication skills (oral and written presentations), attitude towards learning, relationship with patients, peers, residents, attending physicians and staff, professionalism and performance on the written shelf examination and OSCE.  These elements are weighted as follows:

Click here to view a sample clinical clerkship and elective evaluation form.

Honors
The following are specific standards, set forth by the Dean’s office, that should be met for a student to receive a passing grade with Honors in this clinical clerkship.

Knowledge
The student should show exceptional curiosity and interest. She/he should read in preparation for lectures and procedures and after seeing a patient with a specific problem. He/she should be able to integrate information from readings and lectures with clinical problems and be able to organize and prioritize information and focus on the important clinical problems. The student should be especially independent in learning on his/her own. A score of 70 or above on the final written examination is recommended for the student to receive Honors.

Skills
The student’s H&Ps and oral or written presentations should be complete, accurate, organized and focuses. There should be little room for improvement by the resident or attending. The problem list and differential diagnoses should be complete and prioritized by likelihood and importance. Pelvic exams should be complete, as accurate as can be expected from a student and not unnecessarily painful. Orders and notes should be very accurate and complete, with no inappropriate comments or orders. During surgery the student should remain involved, know what is being done, demonstrate understanding of appropriate actions and not merely follow instructions. When following patients in labor the student should be aware of whether monitoring data are normal or abnormal, while remaining aware of the woman in labor.

Attitude
The student should show an exceptional level of interest and compassion for the patient. He/she should be a part of the health care team and interact appropriately and positively with all members of the team, including nurses and other students. The student should show exceptional ability to organize and prioritize. The student should actively seek out feedback and use criticism in a constructive way. He/she should be active, not passive and take an interest in teaching others. The student should strike a balance between independent thought and action and the need to seek assistance and supervision. He/she should be able to be trusted. Above all, the student should show that he/she has the capacity to learn and improve.

These are general guidelines, which are subject to modification. The stage of the student’s training (i.e., beginning of the clinical year v. the end) should be kept in mind, but the Honors student is one who should stand out from the rest regardless of the time of year. Overall excellence is required. If there is a significant deficit in one area, such as poor interaction with others, Honors should not be given. Honors are given because of excellence, not in spite of a problem. Conversely, a student who excels amazingly in one area, but is only average in another does not deserve Honors.

Every Thursday you will be excused from your clinical duties to attend group didactic sessions. The schedule on Thursdays will be (roughly) as follows:

Each rotation will have a faculty member who has volunteered to serve as a Preceptor for the group. Information about your group’s Preceptor should be enclosed in your handbook or will be distributed at the initial orientation meeting of your rotation. Each Preceptor will determine the content, format and meeting times for your group sessions. You will be excused from your clinical duties (in most situations) to attend these sessions with your Preceptor. This is a valuable opportunity for you to have close contact with faculty mentors who are truly dedicated to teaching, and most students have found it to be a very rewarding experience.

The OB team should contact the third year resident covering the Antepartum service after your Orientation session. The resident will advise you when to come in for rounds the following morning. Usually, you will be assigned one or two patients on the Antepartum service to round on each morning. You should be prepared to present your patients to the team each morning. Sometimes morning rounds are not as formal and you may not be called upon to present, but you should be ready to present nonetheless.

The entire team should report to morning Board Turnover rounds in the physician’s lounge on L&D – CHONY 10 Tower promptly at 7:30AM. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, Board Turnover occurs at 7:00AM. On Wednesdays, a Prenatal Pediatrics conference is held at 7:30 AM in the Todd Amphitheatre (P&S 16) which students should attend. After rounds, each student should depart to his or her assigned site for the day. The person assigned to L&D should change into scrubs and join the resident day team in their morning activities. To provide continuity of care, students will take call for 24 hour shifts on Labor & Delivery on a q4 to q5 schedule. The on-call experience is a vital part of your obstetrical rotation, and students will then have their post-call day off. The exception is Wednesday night call, which will be a short call until 10:00PM only. Students are then expected to report for the full day of scheduled didactic sessions on Thursday.

Your responsibilities on L&D might include assisting the resident team in triaging patients, writing admission H&Ps, charting antepartum and intrapartum progress notes on the patients in labor, and assisting with deliveries, both vaginal and caesarean. You should try to become involved in the care of a wide variety of patients. Your best resources will be the junior resident “running the board” and the chief resident on L&D. They will help identify the best patients for you to become involved with.

At the end of your post-call shift (in the morning before board turnover) you should round on the postpartum patients you helped deliver. The intern should review your note and cosign any orders you may write on your patients. When you are not on L&D and are not post-call, you will be assigned to a variety of other sessions, including attendance in the Ultrasound suite and perinatal clinics as well as the general OB/GYN clinic at 21 Audubon Street. Your participation in these settings may range from shadowing the technicians, residents and attending physicians to more active involvement in the evaluation of patients, if deemed appropriate by the supervising team.

The Ultrasound suite is located on PH-12, Room 1235. There is a long corridor with the main ultrasound reading room. The perinatal/ diabetes clinic is located off the same hallway. Just ask someone in the vicinity or one of the residents where to go and they’ll help direct you to the right place!

Students on the GYN team will spend time on either the Benign or GYN Oncology service. You may divide evenly into groups yourself and contact the chief residents covering both services after your Orientation session. The residents will advise you when and where to come in for rounds the following morning. Usually, you will be assigned to one or two inpatients on the GYN service to round on each morning. Most often these will be your post-operative patients or patients you admitted from the ER. You should be prepared to present your patients to the team each morning.

After rounds, each student should depart to his or her assigned site for the day. The people assigned to the OR should be dressed in scrubs and ready to assist in surgery with the residents. Those students who are not scheduled to be in the OR will be assigned to a variety of other sessions, including attendance in several of the ambulatory clinics as well as the general OB/GYN clinic at 21 Audubon Street. On occasion you may be asked to go to the OR instead of your assigned clinic if additional assistants are needed.

In addition, you have each been assigned to at least one colposcopy clinic, regardless of whether or not you are on the Gyn Oncology service. There is also a Wednesday tumor board clinic, which you may attend if your schedule permits. Both are valuable opportunities to learn more about gynecologic oncology. The clinic is located in the Irving (aka Atchley) Pavilion on the 8th floor and begins around 8:45 - 9:00 AM. The Irving Pavilion is next to the Milstein Building, on Fort Washington Avenue.

Students will take call for Gynecology on a q4 to q5 schedule. After evening rounds have been completed, the student on call should page the ER Consult Resident. GYN call will be short call until 10:00PM only. On the weekend, the student on call should come in to round with the GYN team in the morning and accompany the resident if there is a patient to be seen in the ER or on the consult service. The student can help with any floor work that needs to be done, and during downtime, may study independently.

During the course of the clerkship, students will attend the following sessions:

21 Audubon Clinic
Each student is assigned to several sessions over the course of the rotation in the general OB/GYN clinic at 21 Audubon Street. This clinic will provide the best opportunity for you to see a wide spectrum of obstetric and gynecologic patients on your own, take their H&Ps, and perform breast and pelvic examinations with the residents and/or attending physicians in the clinic. The patients are wonderful and usually very receptive to student involvement in their care. It is a great experience – enjoy!

Family Planning
Each student may attend one session with the Family Planning service.  This is an optional session designed to provide you with the opportunity to learn more about the counseling and procedures involved with voluntary termination of pregnancy, contraceptive options and female sterilization.  For philosophical and ethical reasons, some students may not feel comfortable attending this session.  Please let the clerkship administrator know if you do not plan to attend this session, so that we may inform the Family Planning division of the student schedule for the rotation.  The current sessions are held on Saturdays in the Atchley Pavilion, Room 411. Please check with the clerkship coordinator in advance of your scheduled day to find out if the session is scheduled for the entire day or just the morning or afternoon.  The remainder of the day, or if you choose not attend the session altogether, should be considered Elective time.

Reproductive Endocrinology
This clinic is held Monday 1-4 PM, Wednesday 1-4 PM, and Friday 9-12 AM at 21 Audubon Street on the 2^nd floor. The clinic is run by the reproductive endocrinology attendings and fellows and provides useful exposure to patients with endocrinologic and infertility issues.

Medical Student Schedule

Click here for a graphic of a medical student’s daily schedule.