AI: Surgery, VAH

School of Medicine

Students in the Acting Internship in Surgery at the Veterans Affairs Hospital will spend time on the General Surgery Service. Students will function in a supervised environment and be expected to fulfill the role of a surgical intern. These roles include caring for their own patients, engaging family member, communicating with allied health providers, documentation, writing orders, executing initial consultation, and having a role in the conduct of operations. Students will be exposed to the full range of clinical activities of each of these services, and they will also have the opportunity to participate in preoperative evaluation, intraoperative management, and postoperative care. The student will actively participate in a weekly clinic. Each service has a full complement of conference activities, which the student will attend. There will be close observation of the student's activities by the house staff and the attendings. Weekly feedback will be provided for reflection. Students will have in-house overnight call at least four times during the four-week rotation, and participate on morning ward rounds Saturday and Sunday twice during the four weeks. Workups, progress notes, and clinic notes will be read and feedback provided for the student's reflection and improvement. The strengths of this AI on VA Surgery include the residents and attendings, the active role of the student, the breadth of clinical exposure, and the personal coaching provided. VA system access is required to VA computers, CPRS (ie EMR), order entry, General Surgery shared folders, and imaging systems. Students cannot take this course if they have not successfully enabled VA access at least 2 weeks before the course starts.