Family Medicine Inpatient Elective 2.5 Credits/Maximum of 2.5

Catalog description

Faculty in Family and Community Medicine (FCM) have developed a hands-on in-depth immersion in hospital-based medicine embedded in the FCM Inpatient Medical Service at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and College of Medicine. This 2 week experience prepares students to work in teams to improve patient outcomes by addressing complex medical issues, while gaining a greater understanding of the continuity that Family Medicine clinicians provide to their patients. Students will be able to expand their medical knowledge through both hands-on care, didactic lectures and interactive discussions, and they will be able to apply and enhance their critical thinking skills. Most didactic lessons will be available online for further review and to allow asynchronous learning. Students will work with the FCM Inpatient Team and develop transitional care plans to treat acute and chronic medical problems. Coordination of care with the Discharge Planning Team will be emphasized to ensure that patients are adequately prepared for hospital discharge. Factors that affect patient health post-discharge such as Social Determinants of Health and Transitional Care Management will also be discussed, and students may have the opportunity to follow up with their patients in the outpatient clinic or post-discharge settings such as a skilled nursing facility. Students will learn more about the key competencies espoused by the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC), and how knowledge and application of these competencies can enhance the patient experience and improve overall outcomes of patient care. The real-world interaction of this process helps students become part of a team that focuses on individual patient-centric care and patient-specific needs and the individual barriers that may prevent such ideal care. At the completion of this course students should have a better clinical understanding of the health systems science principles as they apply in the inpatient setting, and they will have a better command of the knowledge that is necessary to shepherd these patients safely through the hospital admission.