Medical Student Clerkship Education Update with Dr. Ronnie Rivera

By Cassandra Smith, UCISOM Class of 2025

The Emergency Medicine Clerkship at UC Irvine is a rotation that offers students the opportunity to complete eight shifts in the emergency department over a two week rotation. This is an opportunity to work in a fast-paced environment with a diverse and vulnerable patient population. The clerkship directors recently completed a review and received great feedback. Students highlighted the love from the clerkship coordinators and engaging didactic sessions as some of their favorite features. One of the changes taking place is making the feedback more automatic. The current process is to fill out a google form, which can be difficult to remember to do. The clerkship coordinators are currently working on improving this into a more fluid and integrated process.

Those doing the sub-internship in the ED work only with attendings and receive one-on-one attention, which is a unique feature of this rotation. All students are evaluated in several clinical categories each shift. These scores are entered into a grading algorithm designed to remove personal bias from the grades. All students complete a social determinants of health (SDH) assignment to reflect on an experience with a patient and how that will affect their future practices. Those who wish to seek an honors credit on the course can create an infographic for patients or clinicians on a particular SDH. Sub-interns  are eligible for honors. There are also simulation and procedure days to allow students the opportunity to learn and practice ED skills outside of the hospital setting. If you or someone you know is interested in rotating in our EM Clerkship, have them check out the information page here