SCHOOL OF 2012-2013 - St. George's University

Internal Medicine
John Sensakovic, MD, PhD, Chair
The 12 weeks of the internal medicine rotation are designed
to expose students to a wide variety of medical problems.
Students are expected to develop a logical approach to the
diagnosis and treatment of patients’ complaints. Some of
the skills that must be acquired and refined are how to elicit
and assess patient information, how to perform a complete
and accurate physical examination, how to formulate a
differential diagnosis and problem list, how to construct a
diagnostic workup and a plan of management, and how to
write up and present cases.
Students thoroughly study at least two new patients per
week, present them on teaching rounds, follow them
throughout their hospital stay, and use patient problems as
a basis for reading.
The end of the rotation should accumulate large amounts
of experience-based knowledge as students are assigned
cases in various major areas of medicine such as cardiology,
gastroenterology, and endocrinology. Self-learning
techniques, as well as compulsory attendance at lectures,
conferences, and teaching rounds, in concert with a careful
study of patients, should foster a sound pathophysiological
approach to medical diseases and a concern for and
awareness of patient needs.
Surgery
James Rucinski, MD, Interim Chair
The goal of the surgery rotation is to acquaint students
with those clinical problems that require surgery as part
of the therapeutic management. The emphasis of this
rotation is not primarily on surgical technique, but on the
understanding of the pathophysiology of surgical disease,
as well as on the management of pre-operative and postoperative
therapy. Besides the many short histories and
physical examinations done during this rotation, students
are required to perform detailed histories and physical
examinations on at least two patients admitted to the
surgical service each week, and to follow these patients
through surgical and post-operative therapy.
Attendance in the operating room is required when surgery
is performed on a patient for whom students obtained an
admission history and performed a physical examination.
Students must assist in the operating room to gain an
understanding of basic surgical techniques, surgical
discipline in relation to asepsis, and care of the unconscious
patient. The more common post-operative complications
must be recognized. Student follow-ups of patients are
required (for example, pathology, radiology, rehabilitation
medicine). Procedures that involve manual skills, such as
venipuncture, placing and removing sutures, and urethral
catheterization are incorporated into the surgical rotation.
Initially, students are under direct supervision. After
demonstrating proficiency, they are indirectly supervised.
Obstetrics/Gynecology
Paul Kastell, MD, Interim Chair
The goals of the clinical rotation in obstetrics/gynecology
are to provide students with knowledge and experience
in managing the normal and abnormal changes that occur
during pregnancy, labor, delivery, and the puerperium,
and in diagnosing and treating gynecological disorders.
Students become proficient in taking histories from and
examining such patients, learning to perform pelvic
examinations, including how to pass a speculum and obtain
a cervical smear, as well as in attending to their patients
in the operating and delivery rooms. Additional student
experiences include the observation of labor, delivery of
cases, installation of intravenous infusions, recording of
partograms, helping with problems of anesthesia, and
attendance at special clinics such as pre- and post-natal
care, family planning, infertility, and high-risk cases.
Students attend conferences, lectures, and teaching
rounds. They are expected to follow their patients carefully,
read textbooks and literature referable to their patients’
problems, and pay special attention to public health
aspects of reproductive medicine, especially as they relate
to maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality, sexually
transmitted disease, cancer detection, and human sexuality.
Psychiatry
Amy Hoffman, MD, Chair
The purpose of the rotation is to convey psychiatric
concepts, attitudes, and skills that are needed by all students,
regardless of their future career plans. By the conclusion of
the rotation, students should be able to elicit, organize, and
present a full psychiatric history, perform a mental status
examination and a differential diagnosis, and suggest
methods of treatment. Students will have improved their
ability to establish a physician-patient relationship and will
have acquired knowledge of psychological factors in physical
illness. Students will demonstrate improved interviewing
skills and know the major indications, uses, and side effects
School of Medicine
Course Descriptions
School of Medicine Catalog 2013–2014 | 75