The purpose of this policy is to create clear standards regarding student supervision during the student’s participation in the Clinical Clerkship Program during the student’s 3rd and 4th years of attendance at COM. Clinical supervision of medical students is fundamental to safeguarding standards, professional expertise, and the delivery of quality patient care. These standards will enable students to develop knowledge and competence, assume supervised responsibility and enhance patient safety in complex situations as well as ensure osteopathic medical student safety.
CHSU’s COM requires clinical supervision of osteopathic medical students as an integral part of patient care and will ensure that appropriate and experienced practitioners are selected for this role. The supervising physician will be ultimately responsible for ensuring medical student and patient safety during the student’s clinical clerkships. Students in clerkship rotations are unlicensed, and as a result supervising physicians must be engaged in all aspects of patient care, including oversight of patient histories and physicals, ordering labs and any form of imaging, prescribing, or during the performance of diagnostic and/or therapeutic procedures. Prior to beginning their clerkships, students will be notified to whom they directly report.
The Clinical Clerkship Program is designed to provide the student with knowledge in the following core areas: internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, women’s health, behavioral health, and family medicine. The program has been organized to allow students completing their clerkships to have the greatest degree of educational exposure in a practical and clinical environment. Additionally, the clerkship enables students to develop expertise in the areas of patient diagnosis and management. Students will participate in a well-structured and systematic training experience in each particular clerkship, with experiences in Inter-Professional Education with healthcare colleagues in various disciplines. Students will comply with all requirements related to patient care as established by the host institution.