Pre-Med Practica / Preceptorships

Page Contents:

1. Sacred Heart Pre-Med Student-Physician Placements

2. Asklepiads Pre-med Preceptorship Program

3. 10 Behaviors to Improve Your Preceptorship Experience

4. Biology Practicum Credit

1.  Sacred Heart Pre-Med Student-Physician Job Shadow Placements:

Please go to http://www.peacehealth.org/clinicalexperiences and follow the directions for a JOB SHADOW which will ask you to:

• Read Orientation Materials
• Provide the date of your current (within the last 2 years) TB test
• Complete an application, the 2^nd page is a short quiz on the orientation materials
• Read and Sign a confidentiality agreement

When completing the application, be sure to state that you would like to job shadow a PHYSICIAN, your year in school and list the specialties you are interested in observing.  Fax the documents to the Center for Medical Education & Research (CMER) at 541-335-2343.  Once your completed application is received the CMER office will assist you in finding a job shadow placement for you with physicians in Eugene and Springfield. 

PLEASE ALLOW 1 MONTH FOR FOLLOW-UP ON THIS APPLICATION

If you have any questions, contact Chris Traver at ctraver@PeaceHealth.org or call 541-686-6863.

2. Asklepiads Pre-med Preceptorship Program

There are no restrictions on which student members can apply to this program. In past years, however, we have received more applications than we have physicians able to accommodate students; if this remains the case, student members who have stayed involved and contributed to club will be considered first. (We do take attendance at general meetings, fundraisers and other club functions). Additionally, our preceptorship program of independent physicians is meant to complement the new PeaceHealth preceptorship program beginning this year that we are a part of. Because it is the goal of this program and our club in general to present opportunities for all students to be involved, we may take PeaceHealth's requirements into consideration when considering priority for our independent program.

3.  10 Behaviors to Improve Your Preceptorship Experience

1. Be on time and don't schedule other events directly afterward; you may need to stay late (i.e. stay with your preceptor until they are done).
2. Look the part – dress professionally.
3. Become part of the team – take the time to meet the other people in the clinic/environment.
4. Look for ways to be value added to the care team.
5. Define the things that you can do to help;  get the training to do it (move patients, vitals, patient education materials, etc.).
6. Talk to patients – try to get first contact – patients are your best teachers.
7. Share what you learn from your patients with your preceptor – include patient concerns.
8. Ask questions – identify the best time to do this consistent with the stressors that exist in the practice.
9. Remember that it is a privilege to be there – it is a privilege to interact with patients, take up space in the clinic, work with the preceptor.
10. Have fun – do this to learn about medical environment, not your preceptor.  If you don’t like it, take it to heart and investigate whether you really want to follow this path.

Adapted from:

Scott A. Fields, M.D.

Professor and Vice Chair

Department of Family Medicine

OHSU School of Medicine

4.  If you want a practicum for Biology Practicum credit (mainly for Biology majors):

BI 409 Practicum is used to sign up for practicums and internships, but first you must provide information by e-mail to Pat Lombardi lombardi@uoregon.edu about your on-site supervisor and the nature of the experience you've planned. After details have been worked out, Ingrid ingridk@uoregon.edu will authorize you to sign up by way of DuckWeb https://duckweb.uoregon.edu. Once you've been authorized, please make sure you sign up for the correct CRN http://classes.uoregon.edu/ because during the regular academic year, BI 409 has three unique sections for: (1) Volunteers in Medicine or VIM http://www.vim-clinic.org/contact/default.htm on West 11th near the Fred Meyer in Eugene, (2) the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology (OIMB) http://www.uoregon.edu/~oimb/ in Charleston, and (3) other experiences, the titles of which are later changed (16 character limit) by Ingrid to provide some unique details about your practicum or internship (eg, BI 409 Prac: Pediatrics MD, BI 409 Prac: Namibia DVM, BI 409 Prac: Ecuador DDS)

Note that BI 409 (like BI 403, 405, 406, 407) cannot be applied to the 44 credits of upper division course work (most often 11 courses in a more formalized class room and/or laboratory setting) required for the Biology Major. However, BI 409 credits can be applied to the 62 upper division credits required by the University of Oregon to graduate.

If you are a Biology major and enroll through our office, keep in mind that for internships (BI 409), practicums (BI 409), field (BI 406), research (BI 401) or teaching (BI 402) experiences, the work-to-credit ratio (assuming a 10-week term) is 3:1. That is, for 3 hr/wk for a 10-wk term for a total of 30 hr, you get 1 credit. So for 4 credits you would have to work a total of 120 hr per term or 12 hr per week for 10 weeks. If you work for a shorter period of time say less than 10 wk during summer session or between terms, you still have to accumulate the total number of hr of work to receive the appropriate credit.

In order to do any of these experiences you'll need to submit to Pat by way of e-mail:

1. your name and student ID #,

2. your supervisor's contact name, phone, and e-mail and the site address where you'll be working,

3. a paragraph of exactly what you'll be doing including the number of hours per week, and

4. a 1-2 page abstract summarizing your practicum/internship activities or lab research. You should submit this abstract by the week before term exams (< Friday, by 5 pm of "Dead" Week during the regular academic year, or by 5 pm of Week 8 during the summer session.) [NB: We keep your abstract on file so that students who desire to pursue the same or a similar experience can get an idea of what it's like. Also, we use your feedback and communication with the supervisor in evaluating the internship/practicum/research experience for the future.]

You may elect to keep a weekly journal or log of your activities or research on the job for future reference, but we do not require that you submit this.

If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact Pat Lombardi at 346-6055. Best of luck.

Updated 12/12/08