Gastroenterology

ELEC614 / PMDN 610

Department
Internal Medicine

Clinical or Non-Clinical Course
Clinical

Physician Assessed Patient Facing
Yes

Prerequisites
Completion of Phase 2 Clerkships

Goal
This is an inpatient with elective outpatient experience in clinical gastroenterology in a single specialty OSF practice staffed by seven full-time physicians with specialty interests in interventional endoscopy, hepatology, inflammatory bowel disease, and general gastroenterology. Both inpatient and outpatient services are supported by gastroenterology fellows, full-time nurse specialists (APN) and physician assistants (PA). The elective is a mix of inpatient and outpatient experience. Inpatient experience is with the GI attending physicians on weekly call rotation. Outpatient experience is at the GI Clinic for a week predominantly with Dr. Balouch and Dr. Dhillon. The inpatient senior fellow has weekday accountability for the clinical and educational activities. The practice operates on a patient-centered basis, focused on assuring patient autonomy, evidence-based medicine, strong communication among providers, patients, and families. Open access to Internet healthcare resources are used to provide patient education and foster the goals of high-quality care. The scope of the practice includes general gastroenterology with basic endoscopic procedures, hepatology, interventional endoscopy (ERCP & EUS) with special interest in inflammatory bowel disease, motility & chronic viral hepatitis.

Most mornings start with interactive didactic series paralleling the fellowship structure which students are encouraged to attend and participate in. These include Case Conferences, M&M, Journal clubs and IBD focused case conferences, Gastrointestinal Cancer Conference (GICC) and GI pathology. Additionally, participation at the GI fellowship core curriculum and board review is encouraged as well. After the AM conferences the attending physicians are focused on diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy procedures which students are welcome to observe. Clinical rounds are initiated by the inpatient care team at OSF-SFMC with staffing later in the day by the on-call attending. Afternoon office sessions involve consultations, continued care of established patients, analysis of clinical information, problem solving and discussion and are available for students on request. A collaborative effort is fostered to create a sense of pride in providing state of the art care in the most personal way. Student involvement is personalized to fit the student’s learning goals. The patients’ problems represent the broad spectrum of digestive disorders and complexity. The course director provides indirect supervision and teaching. The physician assigned to the inpatient service is the faculty member responsible for clinical supervision and clinical teaching. Supplemental teaching sessions are provided as time permits.

Objectives
At the end of this course, the student will be able to:

  1. Relate the process of effective evidence-based diagnostics and clinical management for basic, common gastrointestinal disorders.
  2. Demonstrate the ability to integrate internet healthcare information resources into patient care.
  3. Integrate principles of communication and patient autonomy into patient care.
  4. Recognize the supervisory role of the physician in effective patient care.
  5. Demonstrate approaches to use the electronic medical record in an efficient way using the problem-oriented method and structured templates.

Method of Assessment
Standard Clinical 4wk Elective Evaluation - Honors/High Pass/Pass/Fail

Additional Methods
Students will be given daily feedback by the inpatient attending based upon the performance of the above tasks.

Course Director
Imran Balouch, MD

Course Coordinator
Ashley Finney
afinney@uic.edu
309-840-7268

Location
SFMC & OSFMG Gastroenterology (5105 N Glen Park Place, Peoria)

Setting
Outpatient
Inpatient

Night Call
No

Laboratory
No

Weekends
No

House Staff
Yes

Number of Learners per Block
1

Duration
4 weeks

Who is this elective available to
M4s (in Phase 3)

Blocks Available
All except Block 3 and fall and winter break.