These pages are new additions to WSU clerkship education. If you are struggling to find something or navigate these pages, please email your feedback to medicine.assessment@wsu.edu.

WSU Clerkship Preceptor Guide

The pages provide an overview and and on-the-ground support for preceptors. For the complete picture of the program at length, please see our 2023-24 Preceptor Guide.

What is Required of Preceptors

• Become a faculty member at WSU.
• Review/Complete the appropriate faculty development to understand the structure of the LIC, the outcome goals for students, and how students are assessed. Link to WSU Clerkship Preceptor Guide 2022: WSU Clerkship Preceptor GUIDE 2022.docx
• Communicate your availability to the LIC Coordinator at your clinical campus and notify them of any time away (vacation, leave, etc.).
• Orient your student to your specific expectations. Ask them about their learning goals and plan. Give them feedback regularly.
• Complete the assessment forms (Workplace-Based Assessments (WBA)) while observing the student and review with the student afterwards. We ask the student to collect at least one WBA per week and the student should initiate planning for WBA observations.
• Complete the Clinical Performance Assessment as directed for your patient care domain.
• Reach out to let us know how we can support you in your role as educator. Engage in faculty development sessions (contact medicine.faculty.development@wsu.edu for moreinformation.)
• Utilize the eLibrary. Connect with your Clinical Education Director(s) and Associate Dean for Clinical Education.

Guidance for Clinical Supervisors

You can support the student’s learning and progression through the MD education program through engagement in these activities:

Orient your student to the rotation. Please cover:

• Where and when you expect the student to be
• What you expect them to be prepared to do
• Special requirements such as presentations on rounds, team meetings and conferencesoIntroductions to the team, to colleagues who may provide supervision and to interprofessional team members, as appropriate

Discuss the student’s goals for their time working with you, including:

• Ask student’s specific learning goals
• Learn about the student’s career plans

Directly Observe the student’s work including:

• Direct care of patients in any setting
• Communication with team members and teamwork
• Case presentations, clinical reasoning, proposed work-up, treatment, management, discharge planning, and follow-up
• Technical skills & procedures

Provide feedback, including:

• Frequent unstructured feedback throughout the rotation to guide the student’s learning and to help the student get the most out of the rotation
• Direct observations (take notes, especially for structured assessments)
• Formal/structured feedback using the Workplace-basedAssessmentsto let the student know where they are in their development

What Does a Successful Year 3 Student Look Like?

Successful Year 3 students are punctual, prepared, and eager to learn. They communicate with their preceptors about their learning goals for the day, the skills they would like to practice, and the feedback forms they'd like to see completed (including what those forms look like) at the beginning of their work session. They also actively seek out opportunities to learn and request to see and work on more complex cases as they develop but also know that it is important to ask for help when needed. They seek feedback early and often.

Expected Skill Level of a Year 3 Clerk

EPA-1: History-taking and Physical Examination

• Obtains a complete, accurate history and uses appropriate secondary sources of information; Adequately establishes rapport, responds effectively to patient’s verbal and nonverbal cues and emotions, adequately demonstrates effective communication skills, and respects patient privacy and autonomy
• Performs an accurate exam and explains all relevant exam maneuvers to patient;  Uses exam to explore and prioritize the differential diagnosis and considers trauma-informed care

EPA-2: Clinical Reasoning, Differential Diagnosis, Application of Fund of Knowledge

• Gathers pertinent data based; proposes a reasonable differential diagnosis; Considers emerging information but does not completely integrate to update differential

EPA-3: Recommend and Interpret Common Diagnostic and Screening Tests

• Recommends key diagnostic and screening tests for common conditions, considers patient preference, potential for harm, cost, and patient access, and explains how results will influence diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment;
• Distinguishes common, insignificant abnormalities from clinically important findings and discerns urgent from non-urgent results and responds appropriately

EPA-4: Discuss and/or Enters Orders and Prescriptions

• Articulates rationale behind most order(s)/prescription(s)
• Participates in the creation of common order(s) or /prescription(s), support from resident or attending
• Recognizes limitations and seeks help by utilizing resources to fill in knowledge gaps to inform safe ordering

EPA-5: Written Documentation

• The sequence of major events is clear, and all appropriate major details are included; minor details may be missing; extraneous information may be included
• Documents a mostly complete problem list, differential diagnosis, assessment and plan; Documentation is partially supported through clinical reasoning

EPA-6: Oral Patient Presentation

• Filters, synthesizes, and prioritizes information into a well-organized presentation
• Integrates most pertinent positives and negatives to support hypothesis and provides reasonable arguments to support the patient care plan

EPA-7: Clinical questions, Medical Decision Making, and Incorporating the Literature

• Identifies limitations and gaps in knowledge and translates information needs into well-formed clinical questions; may require some assistance
• Use appropriate search strategies, can select appropriate resources to address the clinical question
• Judges quality of evidence from clinical studies; requires support to determine applicability to patient care

EPA-8: Giving and Receiving Patient Handoffs

• Collects key patient information to support patient handover; may require support prioritizing information
• Communicates key information; may require support conveying illness severity. Requires support action plan and contingency plan

EPA-10: Recognize Patients with Urgent or Emergent Needs

• Demonstrates ability to recognize trends or variations in vital signs; may miss abnormalities in clinical status. Requires support to prioritize information in an urgent or emergent setting. Seeks help
• Requires prompting to perform basic procedural skills or life support and engages with members of the health care team

EPA-11: Informed Consent

• Describes elements of informed consent; may require support to identify all key elements. Recognizes when it is necessary; may require some prompting
• Uses bi-directional communication to develop rapport with patient; requires support to elicit patient’s preferences, notices use of medical jargon, and recognizes emotional cues

EPA-12: Performing Procedures

See the Procedures Page

EPA-15: Referral and Consultation

• Appropriately suggests a referral, applying most relevant gathered data, evidence, and family/patient considerations
• Clearly communicates the reason and need for referral to both consultant and patient
• Identifies and acts upon recommendations/next steps in the consultation report

Preceptors, what if you need support or help?

• The entire course team and the regionally located Associate Deans for Clinical Education (ADCE) are available to support and help you with any of your needs. The ADCEs are the primary point of contact for students and preceptors. If we do not have an answer, we will get you one.
• If you notice a student or colleague struggling, contact us. The value of a LIC is relationship development. We are in this learning and serving work together.

Faculty Development Courses

Want to learn more about how we assess students in a competency-based program? Take the following course through our Faculty Development program, which you can complete for CME: Assessment in the LIC E-Module CME Course