The Clinical Skills Course spans the first eighteen months of school for all medical students. Students begin to develop and refine their clinical skills, the essential elements of “doctoring” that physicians use during patient encounters. In Clinical Skills (CS), students learn to communicate with patients, families, and other members of the care team; examine patients; develop clinical reasoning skills; and understand the important role of a student-doctor in a patient’s care. Students are also introduced to point-of-care ultrasound. Multiple teaching modalities are utilized in CS, but the bulk of the experiences are designed to be hands-on, offering students the opportunity to develop clinical skills with direct faculty observation and feedback, frequently with the use of standardized patients.
Throughout CS, emphasis is placed on taking a patient-centered approach to care. Students pass the course by attending all class sessions (attendance is mandatory) and performing a competent history and physical exam in a standardized assessment session at UConn. Course content is practiced and supplemented in the Interprofessional Longitudinal Clinical Experience (ILCE) and the Medical Coaching Experience (MCE). The Clinical Skills Program continues through the four-year curriculum with more advanced topics during the clerkship and elective years.
Clinical Skills Director
Associate Professor of Internal Medicine (General Medicine); Associate Director, Yale Cystic Fibrosis Adult Program, Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine; Associate Program Director, Yale Combined Med-Peds Residency Program; Director of Clinical Skills, MD Program; Faculty Advisor, Yale Resident Spanish-language Initiative
Manager of Clinical Skills Program
Manager, Clinical Skills Program Office of Curriculum; Manager, Clinical Education Programs
Director of Physical Examination
Assistant Professor of Medicine (General Medicine); Director of Point of Care Ultrasound, Yale Primary Care Residency Program; Director of Point of Care Ultrasound, Hospitalist Program; Director of the YSM Physical Exam Course, Yale Medicine
Director of Biopsychosocial Approach to Health - Primary Care Psychiatry Clerkship
Associate Professor; Clinical Coordinator, Mental Health Collaborative Care program, Yale Internal Medicine Associates, Yale TCC; Co-Director, Yale Primary Care and Psychiatry Clerkship, Internal Medicine
Director of End of Life Skills
Professor; Director, Yale Internal Medicine Associates; Director, Medical Student Palliative and End-of-Life Care Education
Director of Communication Skills
Professor of Medicine (General Medicine)
Director of Clinical Skills Assessment
Professor of Medicine (General Medicine); Director of Student Assessment, Teaching and Learning Center; Director of clinical skills assessment, MD Program
Director of Point of Care Ultrasound
Associate Professor Term; Director of Point-of-Care Ultrasound Education for YSM
Director of Standardized Patient Program
Riva Ariella Ritvo Professor in the Child Study Center and Professor of Psychiatry; Medical Director, Children's Psychiatric Inpatient Service at Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital; Director, Standardized Patient Program, Teaching and Learning Center; Director of Medical Studies, Yale Child Study Center, Child Study Center
Director of Clinical Reasoning
Assistant Professor; Director of Remediation, Yale School of Medicine; Course Director, Clinical Reasoning and Decision Making; Associate, Educator Development in Clinical Reasoning, Teaching and Learning Center; Section Leader, Interprofessional Longitudinal Clinical Experience; Advisor, Clinician Educator Distinction, Internal Medicine Residency Programs; Member, Course Review Committee
Director of Interprofessional Longitudinal Clinical Experience
Professor of Psychiatry; Director of Medical Student Education, Psychiatry; Executive Director of The Yale Interprofessional Longitudinal Clinical Experience, MD Program; Integrated Care Firm Director, VA Connecticut Healthcare System
Director of Medical Coaching Program
Professor of Clinical Medicine