For Preceptors

Clinical Clerk Work Hours

These guidelines are provided by the Cumming School of Medicine UME and apply to all clerks on all rotations. This is a summary and a link to the full document may be found here.

1. Unless scheduled for an evening/overnight call shift, clerks are not expected to work more than 11 hours per day on a regular basis
2. Call will not exceed an average of 1:4 during a single rotation and they will not work more than 2 weekends per 4-week rotation
3. Clerks will not be scheduled to work an evening/overnight call shift the day prior to any summative examinations
4. After a 24-hour call shift, clerks will be required to sign over for up to 2 hours but will then be expected to be excused (“24+2” rule)
5. If a call room is not available for clerks to use, they will be expected to stay no later than 2300hrs on evening call shifts
6. Clerks will not be assigned to stay past 2300hrs on the last Sunday of their rotation in order to be able to attend the first day of their new rotation on Monday morning
7. Clerks assigned to be on call on a statutory holiday, they will be assigned a day off in lieu that will be scheduled for them by the UME
8. Past 27 weeks gestation, pregnant clerks will not be expected to participate in night call after 2300hrs

Conflict of Interest Policy

These guidelines are provided by the Cumming School of Medicine UME and apply to all clerks on all rotations. This is a summary and a link to the full document may be found here. 

If a medical student comes under the supervision of a teacher who is currently treating or has previously treated that student for a sensitive health concern, or who is their primary care physician or specialist consultant for ongoing regular care, a conflict of professional roles between the teacher’s clinical and educational responsibilities arises. The physician teacher must not participate in the assessment of the student in question, either directly or indirectly (e.g., by providing feedback to the director of a clinical rotation). It is also preferable that the student be scheduled for alternative supervision, if possible.

Both the teacher and the student are individually responsible for reporting the potential conflict of professional roles. Arrangements will then be made to remove the student from the preceptor’s supervision. The student and preceptor and not required to disclose the nature of the healthcare relationship, just that it exists and is in conflict with the UME policy. 

If the conflict does not become apparent until the end of a rotation, the current clerkship ITER offers the option for faculty to opt out of the evaluation based on the conflict. This could result in the need for a student to be reassessed by a different preceptor. A student may, in the interest of their own education, request an exception to this policy, if application of this policy will adversely affect the quality of their educational experience.

If you feel a conflict of interest exists between yourself and a clinical clerk you have been assigned to supervise, please reach out to the Internal Medicine Clerkship Director immediately.

Cumming School of Medicine Internal Medicine Clerkship Rotation Objectives

By the end of the internal medicine clerkship rotation, clinical clerks will be able to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to confidently proceed in training as a junior resident on any medical service. 

​Performance will be assessed by clerks’ active participation in the formal teaching activities and the formative midterm MCQ examination, as well as successful completion of the summative MCQ examination, completed logbook and the in-training performance evaluation (ITER) reports.

​MTU and each subspecialty have rotation-specific objectives that may be found under the tab dedicated to each.

Providing Feedback to Learners

Providing practical and effective feedback in a sensitive manner is a skill and one that we need to learn and practice as preceptors. If you are interested in improving your teaching skills, the UME has a number of helpful resources:

• Learning and Instructional Design
• Online Modules for Teaching Faculty

Cumming School of Medicine – 'Big 10' Educational Objectives

1. Demonstrate the basic science and clinical science knowledge and skills necessary for the supervised practice of medicine, and use knowledge efficiently in the analysis and solution of clinical presentations

2. Evaluate patients and properly manage their medical problems by:

      -  Conducting a comprehensive history and thorough physical examination; reliably eliciting appropriate information in the history and detecting abnormal findings on the physical examination
      -   Correctly identifying the patient’s diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and medical problems
      -   Applying an appropriate clinical reasoning process to the patient’s problems
      -   Advocating for patients while formulating and implementing a resource-conscious management plan to deal effectively with patient problems
      -   Applying basic patient safety principles

3. Apply a comprehensive patient-centred approach in the evaluation and care of patients including sensitivity to differing: Mentation and gender identity, cultural and spiritual beliefs, attitudes and behaviors, economic situations
4. Demonstrate knowledge of the fundamental concepts of disease prevention and health promotion for individual patients and populations and incorporate them into treatment plans as appropriate
5. Communicate and interact effectively with patients, families, medical staff and others involved in the delivery of health services
6. Describe and apply ethical principles and high standards in all aspects of medical practice
7. Exhibit appropriate professional behavior, including awareness of personal Wellness and limitations
8. Formulate clear clinical questions and apply an evidence-based approach to solving these questions
9. Demonstrate educational initiative and self-directed lifelong learning skills
10. Describe the basic principles of clinical and translational research, including how such research is conducted, evaluated, explained to patients and applied to patient care