Clinical Skills Elective Refresher Course

The CAA offers a Clinical Skills Elective which is designed to meet the specific needs of students who are beginning the CCE year after a hiatus. This includes returning MD/PhD students as well as students who have delayed the start of the CCE year for any reason. This course is offered in the mid-to late Spring, before returning students start their clerkships and runs for one week. The elective gives 4 Class C Credits toward graduation. 

The goal of this course is to help prepare you to enter the CCE year with well-tuned skills. Objectives are as follows but may be modified depending on the needs of the group. General topic sessions include:

• History Taking
• Clinical Problem Solving
• Differential Diagnosis
• Oral Presentations
• Test-Taking and Study Strategies
• Note-writing
• Navigating Epic
• Comprehensive Review of a case
• Physical Exam session with an SP

During the course, students will:

• Develop a study plan for their first clerkship that includes:
  • A study calendar allowing for adequate time to:
    • Prepare for the final exam
    • Prepare for the OSCE
    • Reading on your patients
    • Any assignments specific for the clerkship
    • Choose study resources
    • Practice studying using the following strategies:
      • Developing and using scaffolding techniques (method for organizing clinical information)
      • Developing compare and contrast tables
      • Developing flash cards
      • Note-taking that stresses writing down the “question” followed by the “answers” in order to practice recall rather than “re-reading”
      • Asking “self-questions”
      • Using the UWorld QBank effectively
      • Practice using test-taking strategies while answering UWorld QBank questions
        
        
• Practice solving clinical problems using the following tools:
  • Clinical problem analysis (Generic Problem Solving)
  • Develop problem representations
  • Develop and use illness scripts
  • Develop an approach to solving specific clinical problems (TBD)
  • Differential diagnosis strategies
  • Practice taking OSCE’s
  • How to approach history
  • How to approach PE
  • How to approach DDx
  • Practice giving oral presentations
  • Practice writing admission notes
  • Practice writing SOAP note

You will be working with a small group of students and a mix of CAA faculty in a virtual setting (Zoom). You will be expected to do pre-reading and there will be exercises to complete before class. You will also have ample time for independent study and there may be the opportunity for additional clinical experiences. Class time will be approximately 2-4 hours per day, plus pre-work and homework outside of class.

If you are interested, please contact Dr. Deanna Richmond.

Updated FEB 2026 | las