Clerkship Administration

All clerkships are required to have a Director and an Associate Director

All clerkships are required to have a Director and an Associate Director. The Dean’s Office provides 0.25FTE for direction of a full 40-week clerkship period and for general discipline associated organizational activities related to selectives. The Associate Director’s role is to assist with the monitoring and evaluation of clerkship activities, the administration of exams, and to provide general backup to the Director, e.g. act as alternate at meetings, assist with student and faculty mentoring. The 0.25FTE provided by the Dean’s Office is to be proportionately allotted to the Director and Associate Director to reflect percent effort on the part of these individuals.  -DJI 09.11.07

Clerkship Director Responsibilities

1. Organize and operate a clerkship and general discipline associated activities related to selectives. This includes the monitoring and evaluation of clerkship activities, overseeing the administration of exams, calculation and preparation of summative student evaluations and grades, student and faculty mentoring, coordination and oversight of extramural sites, and all other duties necessary for clerkship operation.
2. Provide reports to the chair, department, or education committees on student performance and program effectiveness.
3. Provide reports as requested by the chair on faculty development (department needs and resources) and on teaching contributions of faculty under consideration for academic promotion.
4. Recommend to the chair and/or education committee changes in clerkship design or methods based on outcome measurements, resource availability, and current education developments.
5. Provide a budget for faculty FTEs, staff personnel, and resources to execute the clerkship.
6. Serve on the Clinical Medicine, Joint Clerkship, and Promotion committees as required.

Qualifications of a Clerkship Director

1. The ability to manage an educational program in an environment of change.
2. The capability and commitment to be an effective teacher, with knowledge of the discipline.
3. Overall vision for the clerkship in collaboration with faculty, the chair, and the dean.
4. Working knowledge of national, school, and department curricular goals for students in their discipline; willingness and ability to incorporate important inter-departmental clinical themes into the clerkship.
5. A physician.
6. Experience with clinical supervision and classroom instruction of medical students.
7. Skilled in formative evaluation and feedback for individual students; able to advise and supervise remediation for students with academic problems.
8. Enthusiasm for students and undergraduate medical education as a central focus of career development.
9. Ability to provide career guidance to medical students.
10. Ability to manage an individual clerkship site, including schedules for students and teachers, support personnel, and budget.
11. Management ability to achieve and demonstrate consistency in assessment across multiple clerkship sites, including summative evaluation of interviewing skills, physical examination skills, communication skills, and clinical reasoning skills.