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Clinical Skills
WANT TO TEACH?
Browse teaching opportunities below and reach out to Clinical Skills Team Lead, Richa Tyagi richa.tyagi@ubc.ca.
RETURNING TO TEACH?
If you’d like to teach again, be sure you have access to the Clinical Skills Tutor Community to access tutor handbooks, VFMP contacts and up to date resources. Reach out to Richa Tyagi richa.tyagi@ubc.ca to join.
What are the opportunities to teach in Clinical Skills?
There are three options to teach in Clinical Skills.
Communication Skills
Faculty can commit to teach an 8-week series of weekly sessions for Year 1 students. Sessions include an exploration of empathy, discussions of culture and gender, and the development of interviewing skills with volunteer or standardized patients.
Sessions are hosted at Gordon & Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre (DHCC).
Clinical Skills Sessions
Upon completion of Communication Skills, Clinical Skills sessions are taught in experiential small group format in Year 1 and 2. Students have simulated patient encounters and learn a patient-centred approach while developing their clinical reasoning with oral and written reporting.
Most sessions are hosted at Gordon & Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre (DHCC).
Other hospital sites include St. Paul’s, Surrey Memorial, and Royal Columbian.
Clinical Skills Integration
In Year 2, there are 6 Clinical Skills Integration (CSI) sessions. Sessions 1-3 introduce students to vocabulary and tools for thinking like a doctor. Sessions 4-6 give students the opportunity to apply these tools to improve their ability to perform a history and exam, and formulate an assessment and plan.
Most sessions are hosted at Gordon & Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre (DHCC).
Other hospital sites include St. Paul’s, Surrey Memorial, and Royal Columbian.
FAQ
What is required from a Clinical Skills tutor?
UBC Appointment
All preceptors participating in these teaching sessions should have a faculty appointment or an appointment in progress. If you do not, please reach out to a Clinical Skills contact.
Fellows, eligible non-clinical faculty and residents can sign up to teach these sessions and depending on their appointments might be eligible for compensation. Please contact us if you have any questions about this.
Responsibilities
- Demonstrate and teach to the specified learning objectives
- Display knowledge of specified learning objectives
- Demonstrate patient-centered care
- Model medical professionalism to students
- Give effective formative and summative feedback in the form of Workplace Based Assessments
- Identify students with performance, knowledge or professionalism issues to the appropriate Course/Site Director
- Deliver ‘clinical pearls’ (defined as clinically relevant inform observation)
- Provide mentorship and identity formation opportunities
Where are the opportunities to become a Clinical Skills Tutor?
Recruitment for sessions start 4-5 months in advance.
| Year 1 | |
| Term 1 September – December | |
| Communication Skills (8 weeks) | Students undertake a variety of medical interviews emphasizing relationship building and history taking. |
| Introduction to Clinical Exam | Students are introduced to the clinical examination of the head & neck, vital signs, cardiac, respiratory and abdominal physical examinations. |
| Term 2 January – March | |
| Neurosciences 1-3 | The basic elements of the neurological examination, including a screening neurological examination will be taught. |
| Respiratory Physical Exam | A focused approach to the adult respiratory history and physical examinations will be covered. A third session focused on the ENT examination will also be taught. |
| Cardiovascular Physical Exam | A focused approach to the adult cardiac history and physical examination will be taught. |
| Peripheral Vascular Physical Exam | Vascular surgeons will tutor the students to understand the elements of the Peripheral Vascular history and physical exam. |
| GI Physical Exam | These sessions will cover history taking and physical exam techniques related to the gastrointestinal tract and abdominal complaints. |
| Abdominal Ultrasound | This complements the GI sessions. Students will undertake an abdominal ultrasound of a healthy volunteer patient. |
| Eye Exam | These sessions will familiarize students with physical examination of the eye and the handling and operation of diagnostic ophthalmological equipment. |
| Year 2 | |
| Term 1 September – December | |
| Clinical Skills Integration 1-3 | A focused approach to the complete history and physical examination will be applied to real patients encountered in ambulatory and in-patient hospital settings. |
| Neurosciences 4 | Additional components of the neurological examination will be taught such as mental status and common patterns of abnormalities. |
| Musculoskeletal Physical Exam 2 | These sessions will cover the physical examination of the spine, knee, foot, ankle, hip, leg and the systemic physical examination of the wrist and hand. |
| Pediatrics Newborn | This session introduces the student to history taking and physical examination of a healthy newborn infant. |
| Introduction to Pediatric Exam | This session reviews history taking and an approach to the physical examination of toddlers and young children, as well as developmental assessment of the young child. |
| Pediatrics Adolescent | This introductory session outlines the approach to history taking and a background approach to the physical examination of an adolescent, taking into consideration the unique aspects of adolescent health and development. |
| Integument | Students will learn the basic aspects of the integument exam using an organized approach and appropriate terminology. |
| Ultrasound – Volume Assessment | Following a bedside ultrasonographic volume assessment demonstration, students will perform limited bedside ultrasound for volume assessment. |
| Psychiatry | The goal of these sessions is to develop a basic approach to the psychiatric interview. It is important that the students develop the skill and confidence in approaching patients with psychiatric disorders. |
| Breast/Chest & Pelvic Exam | A patient centered approach to the breast/chest and pelvic history and physical examination will be taught. |
| Genitourinary & Prostate Exam | Students learn a sensitive and systematic approach to the complete genitourinary and prostrate examination. |
| Term 2 January – March | |
| Clinical Skills Integration 4-6 | A focused approach to the complete history and physical examination will be applied to real patients encountered in ambulatory and in-patient hospital settings. |
| Musculoskeletal Physical Exam 3-5 | These sessions will cover the physical examination of the hip and gait, shoulder, elbow, forearm, and the systemic physical examination of the wrist and hand. |
| Geriatric Assessment | These sessions will involve the mental assessment of a geriatric patient. |
| Cardiac Ultrasound | Following a cardiac ultrasound demonstration, students will perform limited bedside cardiac ultrasound. |
| Sensitive Interviewing 1-3 | Students will learn sensitive history taking in an Approach to Sexual Dysfunction in SI-1, Intimate Partner Violence in SI-2 and Approach to Assessing a Suicidal Patient in SI-3. Students will also learn to conduct a detailed sexual assessment while interviewing a male and female standardized patient. |
| Breast/Chest & Pelvic Exam | A patient centered approach to the breast/chest and pelvic history and physical examination will be taught. |
| Genitourinary & Prostate Exam | Students learn a sensitive and systematic approach to the complete genitourinary and prostrate examination. |
What happens after I sign up to teach?
You will receive a survey recruitment with the dates, times, and location for each session. Our program staff will review all submissions, and you will receive a confirmation email for the session you were assigned, along with a link to review the tutor summary and student guide for your session.
Which hospital sites can I teach at?
While most Clinical Skills courses are taught at the Diamond Health Care Centre, some of our courses are taught at hospital sites across the lower mainland. We have sessions at Vancouver General Hospital, St. Paul’s Hospital, Surrey Memorial Hospital, Burnaby Hospital, Lion’s Gate Hospital, UBC Hospital, and Royal Columbian Hospital. If you’re working at any of these hospitals, please contact your program coordinator.
Do I need hospital access to teach Clinical Skills?
You do not need hospital access for courses taught at the Diamond Health Care Centre. However, if you’re teaching courses taught in a hospital setting, like CSI, Pediatrics (Newborn), you will need a hospital access card. Please contact the course coordinators for more information.
Are there any remote opportunities for teaching?
Clinical Skills is primarily taught in-person at one of the teaching sites. However, for Psychiatry and Sensitive Interview Sessions, we can accommodate the delivery of sessions via Zoom in exceptional circumstances.
When do I complete Workplace-Based Assessments (WBA) for students?
A WBA is an assessment modality where students will be assessed by their tutors and/or preceptors based on learning outcomes organized by the CanMEDS framework and yearly milestones. WBA recommendations for promotion or failure will be made by the Regional Student Promotion Subcommittee.
Not all CS sessions mandate a WBA completion. Sessions with mandatory completions are:
- MEDD 411 – Communication Skills
- MEDD 412 – Respiratory 2, Cardiovascular 3, Neurology-3
- MEDD 421 – Neurology 4, Psychiatry 3, Clinical Skills Integration-3
- MEDD 422 – MSK 5, Sensitive Interviewing 3, Clinical Skills Integration-6
The numbers appended to the end of the course names indicate the session number within the series. For instance, MSK-5 denotes the fifth Musculoskeletal (MSK) session undertaken by students in their Year 1 and 2 curriculum.
On average it takes between 15-30 minutes to assess a student through WBA. However, factors such as tutor experience, session expectations, individual student response may affect this average.
Can I get compensated for teaching?
Based on your appointment, you may be entitled to compensation for teaching. Before committing to any teaching responsibilities, please consult our program coordinators for clarification.
Who are my Clinical Skills contacts?
- Year 1 Sessions, Valentina Favero: medd.csy1@ubc.ca
- Year 2 Sessions, Sarah Liu: y2.cs@ubc.ca
- Year 2 Clinical Skills Integration Sessions (CSI): year2.csi@ubc.ca
WHAT STUDENTS ARE SAYING
“My tutor created an incredibly comfortable, open, inclusive, and safe learning environment and it is clear how invested he is in us and our education. It is obvious how much care and attention he puts into every session he teaches, striving and succeeding to make each experience the best possible learning opportunity.”
“Not only did our tutor provide frameworks for each exam, she even provided print outs with step by step instructions, clinical correlation/pathologies and reference tables. These proved invaluable in our OSCE/clinical placement preparation.”
“Our tutor went above and beyond in her teaching. She was very hands on in her teaching and critiques of techniques. Everyone walked away with strong foundations in all MSK exams, which is an accomplishment considering the depth and breadth of knowledge required.”