Clinical Skills Elective Refresher Course

The CAA offers a Clinical Skills Elective which is designed to meet the specific needs of students who are beginning the CCE year after a hiatus. This includes returning MD/PhD students as well as students who have delayed the start of the CCE year for any reason. This course is offered in the mid-to late Spring, before students start their clerkships and runs for 1-2 weeks. The elective gives 4 Class C Credits toward graduation. 

The goal of this course is to help prepare you to enter the CCE year with well-tuned skills. Objectives are as follows but may be modified depending on the needs of the group. General topic sessions include:

• History Taking
• Clinical Problem Solving
• Differential Diagnosis
• Oral Presentations
• Test-Taking and Study Strategies
• Note-writing
• Navigating Epic
• Comprehensive Review of a case
• Physical Exam session with an SP

During the course, students will:

• Develop a study plan for their first clerkship that includes:
  • A study calendar allowing for adequate time to:
    • Prepare for the final exam
    • Prepare for the OSCE
    • Reading on your patients
    • Any assignments specific for the clerkship
    • Choose study resources
    • Practice studying using the following strategies:
      • Developing and using scaffolding techniques (method for organizing clinical information)
      • Developing compare and contrast tables
      • Developing flash cards
      • Note-taking that stresses writing down the “question” followed by the “answers” in order to practice recall rather than “re-reading”
      • Asking “self-questions”
      • Using the UWorld QBank effectively
      • Practice using test-taking strategies while answering UWorld QBank questions
        
        
• Practice solving clinical problems using the following tools:
  • Clinical problem analysis (Generic Problem Solving)
  • Develop problem representations
  • Develop and use illness scripts
  • Develop an approach to solving specific clinical problems (TBD)
  • Differential diagnosis strategies
  • Practice taking OSCE’s
  • How to approach history
  • How to approach PE
  • How to approach DDx
  • Practice giving oral presentations
  • Practice writing admission notes
  • Practice writing SOAP note

You will be working with a small group of students and a mix of CAA faculty in a virtual setting (Zoom). You will be expected to do pre-reading and there will be exercises before class. You will also have ample time for independent study and there may be additional clinical experiences. Class time will be approximately 2-4 hours per day, plus pre-work and homework outside of class.

If you are interested, please contact Dr. Deanna Richmond.

Updated OCT 2025 | las