Course Descriptions

The Patient's Voice: Humanities Component of the Family Medicine Third Year Clerkship

Alexandra Duke, D.O.,
Johanna Shapiro, Ph.D.

Description: The family medicine third year clerkship is a required longitudinal experience in which all third year students are assigned to the practice of a board-certified family physician, either at university practice sites or in the community, one-half day per week for the entire year. In addition to learning basic skills of physical examination, assessment, diagnosis, and intervention, over the year students are also expected to review 14 standard case vignettes with their preceptors (see below). These topics are also discussed at 5 didactic sessions, at which time students are expected to have completed SOAP notes on actual patients with the problems in question. Humanities Component: Each case vignette has an accompanying literary reading (see below). Students are expected to read each selection and be prepared to discuss them with both their preceptor and during the small group didactic sessions. In writing their SOAP notes, students must explicitly note how the literary selection influenced the plan they developed for each particular patient.

Objectives:

  • To provide additional perspectives on the patient experience of illness for 14 common medical disorders seen in family practice settings
  • To encourage students to make concrete links between humanities and practical clinical applications

Family Medicine Clerkship Vignettes and corresponding humanity readings:

  1. Alcohol Abuse
    • The Spirit's Funnel by Mladen Seidl, M.D.
  2. Anemia
    • The Bleeding Girl by Frank Huyler, M.D.
  3. BPH
    • Intoxicated by My Illness by Anatole Broyard
  4. Depression
    • A Measure Of My Days by David Lokterkamp, MD
    • Manuel by Rafael Campo, M.D,
  5. Diabetes
    • Diabetes by James Dickey
  6. Difficult Patient
    • Second Thoughts by Tillman Farley, MD
  7. Domestic Violence
    • Dr. Harris's Residence by Gillian Kendall
    • Keeping Secrets by Suzanne Summers
    • Rose by Andre Dubus
  8. Elevated Blood Pressure
    • Renascence by Margaret Robison
    • Relearning to Speak by Gerry Sloan
    • Five months After My Stroke by Margaret Robison
    • Stroke by Arthur Ginsberg, M.D.
  9. Failure to Thrive
    • Failure to Thrive by Ron Charach, M.D.
  10. Obesity
    • The Six Hundred Pound Man by Jack Coulehan, M.D.
    • Fat Lady by Irving Yalom, MD
    • The Fat Girl by Andre Dupus
    • Walking The Dog by John Wright, M.D.
  11. Rash
    • Psoriasis by Kathleen Newroe
  12. Smoking Cessation
    • Antonio
    • July 16th
    • Black Lung by Erick L. Dyer, MD
  13. Sports Medicine-Knee
    • Dear Left Knee by John Davis
    • On Losing My Anterior Cruciate Ligament by B. Cooker
  14. URI Sinusitis
    • Stricken by Flu by Mladen Seidl
    • Mid-Winter Flu by Brian Cronwall
    • The Common Cold by Ogden Nash

 



Any Problems, Comments, Or Suggestions?
Email Dr. Johanna Shapiro (jfshapir@uci.edu)
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University Of California, Irvine