Southwest Campus

General Surgery Elective

Community Memorial Hospital, Hettinger, ND

SURG 9113

Participating Faculty: William C. Elder, M.D.

Offered: All periods
Positions: 1

Objectives of the Elective:

  1. The student will have an intense four-week experience in the practice of general surgery in a small community hospital.
  2. The student will learn to elicit relevant history of present illness along with relevant physical examination and arrive at a working diagnosis, and have an opportunity to correlate this working diagnosis with operative and pathological findings.
  3. The student will have an opportunity to work in the operating room with the attending surgeon, as often as possible, in the role of first assistant.
  4. The student will have an opportunity to write pre- and postoperative orders and manage the patient on a day-to-day basis, with supervision.
  5. The student will have an opportunity to discuss the patient's management during this period of time, on a daily basis.

Instructional Activities:

  1. The student will meet daily with the preceptor and will discuss the work-up and the mode of therapy for the patients of that day.
  2. The student will assist in the operating room at least once daily, and the pertinent anatomy and surgical pathology will be pointed out to the student, as well as a discussion of the natural history of the disease and the objectives of the operative intervention.
  3. The student will round with the preceptor at least twice a day and each patient will be discussed with the student at that time.
  4. The student will have an opportunity to work with the preceptor daily in the clinic with pre- and postoperative evaluation of the patients and pertinent details will be discussed at that time. The student will also be assigned specific readings in the surgical literature.

Standards of Performance (Outcomes) Indicating Attainment of Objectives:

  1. The student will prepare an admission history and physical at least once daily, and this will be evaluated by the preceptor.
  2. At least once a week the student will present a patient to the preceptor with a relevant discussion as to the history, physical examination, differential diagnosis, natural history of the disease, and relevance of surgical intervention.
  3. The behavior and performance of the student in the operating room will be evaluated.
  4. The efficiency and ward behavior of the student will be evaluated as well.
  5. The preceptor will turn in an evaluation of the student's performance to the assistant dean of the southwest campus.

Criteria for Grading:

  1. Overall performance on the ward and in the operating room.
  2. Subject and general knowledge.
  3. Relationships with patients and other staff.