History Taking & Physical Examination

Catalog description

This is the first of three sequential courses designed to provide students with the fundamental grounding and cognitive knowledge to prepare them for their clinical role in patient-centered care. The course will serve as an introduction to developing the clinical skills necessary to care for and treat patients, such as history taking, physical examination techniques, patient counseling, preventative health screening recommendations, medical documentation, and developing the communication skills used to conduct age-appropriate, patient-centered, culturally sensitive histories and physical exams. The course will progress to acquiring the skills, knowledge, and sensitivity needed to communicate and intervene effectively in diverse patient encounters. This is a combined lecture and lab course using teaching methods to include small group demonstrations and practice sessions. This course will instruct the students on the normal history and physical exam and prepare them for abnormal findings and the problem-focused techniques that they will learn in later courses. Students will also be involved in active learning with simulation lab experiences, utilizing standardized patients. At the completion of this course, students will have obtained the necessary skills to elicit a comprehensive history and perform a comprehensive physical exam, as well as complete the associated documentation.