MEL 8121: Hospital Medicine and Patient Safety Elective

Dr. Alexander Reiss (Tampa)

This rotation is designed to further the fourth year medical student’s education in internal medicine and examine the topics of patient safety and preventable medical errors. During the month, the student will provide hospitalist care for a limited number of inpatients admitted to the general medical wards under the direct mentorship of medicine attendings, simulating the role of private hospitalist physicians. There is no call or weekend work. Integrated into the clinical duties is a curriculum focused on medical errors and patient safety. It includes didactic sessions, practical exercises in identifying engineering hazards, and safety workshops. In 1999, The Institute of Medicine published To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System asserting a sobering statistic: tens of thousands of patients die each year in the U.S. from medical errors. Since that landmark publication, the concepts of medical errors and patient safety have surged into the spotlight of the media, the public, and policymakers. This rotation creates a new framework for students/physicians to consider patient safety and prevention of medical errors while advancing the internal medicine skills of the student, preparing them for internship.

Objectives

1. Further the student’s education of internal medicine
2. Expose the student to the concepts of patient safety and preventable medical errors
3. Introduce the student to hospitalist medicine 
4. Explore the "systems" approach to medical errors
5. Understand human factor engineering in the medical environment
6. Participate in root cause analysis process

Learning Outcomes

1. Gain understanding of Hospitalist medicine concepts
2. Understand human factor engineering and cite specific patient care examples
3. Manage patients in the capacity of an acting intern during business hours, answering pages, writing orders and notes, and admitting and discharging them
4. Participate in root cause analyses if opportunity is available
5. Attend learning conferences with the housestaff
6. Present a morning report or noon conference on patient safety
7. Understand the "system" approach to medical errors and contrast that with the "blame" system

Evaluation

Supervising attending evaluations, completion of skills modules, quiz scores, presentation evaluations, etc.

This elective is not available to visiting students.