Clerkship Onboarding Implementation Guide

How to Use These Resources

Consider bringing together key stakeholders at your school to discuss a process for implementing the following resources at your institution.

• Education for students on "How to Be Awesome in Your Ambulatory Clinical Rotation"
  Have your students review this brief document before beginning their clinical rotations. Encourage the mindset — with students and with preceptors — that students are at clinical sites both to learn and to add value to the clinical practice. This document includes practical strategies and tips for students about how to maximize their time at an ambulatory clinical rotation.
  
  
• Online Training Modules for Students
  Direct students to https://stfm.org/studentonboarding to complete all three of the online modules before they begin clinical rotations. Each of the modules takes approximately 20-25 minutes to complete, and can be accessed and reviewed at any time. Students need to attest to completion of these modules when filling out the Student Passport. If you want to request additional proof of completion of the modules, students can also download and email certificates of completion after finishing each module. The following three topics are covered: 
  
  
  • "How to Write a High-Quality Note in the Electronic Medical Record"
  • "How to Perform Medication Reconciliation"
  • "Motivational Interviewing: a Structured Approach to Behavior Change”
    
    
• Student Passport
  The online passport should be completed or updated before each rotation. This document is used to quickly provide each preceptor with basic information about the student's training, screenings, previous clinical rotations, and objectives for the current clinical rotation.
  

  An administrator at the school needs to email the completed student passport and the Confirmation of Readiness for Clinical Work letter to the preceptor and the clerkship training site. The process works this way: 

  1. The student fills out a Student Passport at the online passport site by uploading the necessary information. After completing the passport, the student can download a PDF form of their own Student Passport. 
  2. The student emails the Student Passport to the designated administrator at their school and requests that he or she complete the letter to verify Confirmation of Readiness for Clinical Work. This letter includes a checklist to confirm that the student has completed necessary trainings such as HIPPA and blood-borne pathogens, has up-to-date immunizations and other health screenings, and is covered by current health and liability insurance.
  3. After filling out the Readiness for Clinical Work letter for the student, your administrator shares the letter and the completed Student Passport with the preceptor and the clinical rotation site.
  
  The passport can be updated and re-downloaded repeatedly as students gain clinical and procedural experience. Click on the Student Passport link for detailed instructions for use.
  
  
• AAMC’s Recommendations for Preclerkship Clinical Skills Education for Undergraduate Medical Education
  As you're preparing your students for their clerkships, be sure to consider whether your preclerkship curriculum meets the goals and objectives in these national recommendations. Use the appendices that begin on page 19 to determine where there are gaps in your current preclerkship curriculum and develop strategies for filling those gaps.