In their first clinical year, our students learn the fundamentals of patient care such as establishing rapport, respect and trust, and develop their clinical skills in history taking, physical exam and management of patients. During this broad-based exposure to the core specialties, students will experience the fundamentals of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Neurology, Psychiatry, Surgery, and Medicine. Our hospital affiliates have a long and distinguished history of clinical teaching.
Clerkship education represents a fundamental shift for medical students in their objectives for learning: In addition to learning the content necessary to become a physician, students begin learning how to become responsible for their patients’ care. Clerkship students are embedded in healthcare teams and have increased patient care responsibilities throughout the year.
Orientation to Clinical Year
• Fundamental preparation for immersion into the clinical environment
• Introduces documentation, safety, record-keeping, basic cardiac life support
Core Clerkship Rotations
Core clerkship rotations are designed to develop students’ clinical problem‐solving skills and their ability to appropriately use resources to diagnose and treat patients. In their second year at Duke-NUS, students undergo 6 eight-week blocks of clerkship rotations:
•Medicine (8 weeks)
•Surgery (8 weeks)
•Paediatrics (8 weeks)
•Obstetrics and Gynaecology (6 weeks)
•Neurology (4 weeks)
•Psychiatry (4 weeks)
•Break (1 week)
The Fundamentals of Research/Scholarship course introduces students to the fundamental skills necessary for critically appraising and interpreting the medical literature. This course, the first in the longitudinal research-education thread, provides the foundation for applying scientific evidence to patient care.