Second-Year Medical Students Complete Core Clinical Training

On Nov. 20, second-year MD students and tutors at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) gathered in the Donald J. Cohen Auditorium for a dinner celebrating the completion of their Medical Clinical Experience (MCE).

MCE helps students build the core clinical skills essential for medical practice. From mid-March of their first year to late November of their second year, MD students work in groups of four with an MCE tutor.

Over eight months, students learn how to communicate with patients, take a full patient history, perform a physical exam, and share findings with other health professionals.

The MCE celebration dinner offers students a chance to connect with tutors and classmates and reflect on their experiences before starting their clerkships in January.

Second-year MD student Alex Dumas found MCE empowering. “Our group worked with Olubunmi Otolorin, MD, and Olutayo T. Imevbore, MD, who pushed us to start integrating diagnostic medicine rather than just repeating the physical exam and interviews. They would ask us if we asked more specifically about associated symptoms of various diseases or risk factors for conditions.”

Imevbore and Otolorin encouraged Dumas and her group members to write patient assessments and health care plans, which then received rigorous feedback. Dumas found this approach to be particularly helpful. "Our faculty demonstrated how to be thorough and detailed while still maintaining the humanity in medicine, which felt like a fantastic primer for clerkships.”

Second-year MD student Akin Aremu also found this training helpful for upcoming clerkships. “One of the most important things my MCE tutors taught us was that we should learn from our patients. They focused on teaching us how to ask questions, present patients, and write notes that reflected what the patient had taught us about their disease process, and how we might get them home or in better health.” For Aremu, those lessons were the most valuable parts of the pre-clerkship curriculum.

Second-year MD student Bailey Thomson Blake found MCE to be a meaningful experience. “I learned an enormous amount from my tutors this year. They consistently pushed us to sharpen our differential diagnosis skills so we could conduct tighter, more intentional patient interviews and physical exams. They also taught us how to present both cohesively and efficiently, and we received timely, detailed feedback on our notes that has helped prepare me for clerkships.”

Blake also praised the collaborative interviews she and her group members performed while in MCE. “It gave us the chance to observe each other's strategies, lean on one another in consolidating the interview and exam, and work together toward a thoughtful assessment and plan.”

Imevbore, a Yale New Haven Health hospitalist, has been tutoring pre-clerkship students in the program since 2006.

When asked what advice she would give to her students before starting their clerkships in January, Imevbore said, “Never stop learning and showing up...This is a great calling, and they should be proud of themselves. Be a great advocate for your patients and do your best for them always. Keep working hard and loving what you do. Most importantly, enjoy what you do, so it does not become a burden.”

Anoli J. Borad, MD, a hospitalist at Yale New Haven Hospital, encourages her students to continue asking why. “Why are you here today? Why do you do what you do? Extend this question to your patients, friends, and colleagues. Even if you cannot fix the problem you face, the deep understanding of the problem is what liberates one.”

Jeffrey Dewey, MD, MHS, assistant professor of neurology, became a tutor because he loves working with students. “Experiential learning is what makes medical school and residency such a great learning experience for them (and teaching experience for me) and it’s a pleasure to help facilitate that.”

He encourages students to spend time with their patients.

“Your learning, sense of meaning, and joy in the journey will be directly proportional to the amount of time spent with your patients. So, when you have nowhere else to be, be at their bedside. Gather more history. Examine them again or more thoroughly. Learn about their lives in and outside the context of their illness. Or just thank them. You, and they, will be happier for it.”

To close the celebration, the YSM Office of Development and Alumni Affairs gifted all students pen lights, which will be a useful tool for clerkships and beyond.