VC3 is designed to direct your attention throughout the existing curriculum to emphasize key presenting problems that faculty leadership feel every Vanderbilt graduate should be able to evaluate. You will encounter many of the presenting problems while caring for surgical patients, and we encourage you to refer frequently to the VC# web site to optimize these experiences. The Department of Surgery is responsible for ensuring competence specifically in the following: abdominal pain, breast complaints, shock, and trauma. Because your general surgery experience is based with a given clinical service, you may not personally encounter all these types of patients, so we have instituted "field days." Each student will go to an "off-service" experience weekly. The students on a given team will work on the same problem in a given week, and will meet weekly with a Master Clinical Teacher to review the experience: VA and HB teams meet with Dr Tarpley as per his schedule and Dr Lomis meets with GI-lap/EGS/CRS/OE/peds as per the published “Clerkship Schedule” in 439LH.
Four topics (while on General Surgery):
- Breast - Vanderbilt Breast Clinic – contact Carol Pope 30737 to confirm open clinics
- Abdominal pain
- Assessment of abdominal pain - night call on EGS service or with primary service; goal to see evaluation of new presentation of abdominal pain
- Acute pain management – morning in PACU with Dr Michael Richardson, anesthesiology as per the published “Clerkship Schedule” Dr. Richardson will e-mail groups directly with dates and times.
- Trauma – night call with PGY2; contact resident on trauma schedule that evening
- Shock – critical skills week (week 6 of rotation)
Students should refer to the weekly schedule frequently and communicate among yourselves to determine who will attend various clinical opportunities such that all can complete the activity assigned in a given week.