Overview

Welcome to the Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons Residents as Teachers website. The resource materials presented here have been developed to provide clerkship and program directors with practical and efficient strategies to help residents become more effective teachers in the course of their normal work duties.

The topics covered are: Introduction to the Clinical Clerkship, Creating a Learning Environment, Microskills of Teaching, Bedside Teaching, Giving Effective Feedback, Writing Comments and Professionalism.

Each module includes a PowerPoint presentation and facilitator's guide, and some are supplemented with additional teaching tools, such as videos and handouts. Feel free to download the materials and tailor them to your clerkship and program needs.

We are committed to continually improving this website, and we ask that you give us your feedback on the usability of this site and the workshop materials in each module. We would appreciate it if you could please take 5-10 minutes to complete the feedback survey for each module you use.

The Major Clinical Year at Columbia

The Major Clinical Year at Columbia is divided into eight blocks lasting six weeks during which students rotate through all the required clinical clerkships as described below. One clerkship, either four weeks of Medicine at an affiliate site or four weeks of Surgical Subspecialties, is deferred until the Differentiation & Integration (elective) period following the MCY.

The class is divided into eight groups of approximately 20 students per group. Each of the eight groups rotates through all clerkships at different times throughout the MCY, based on the rotation schedule assigned.

All students will experience the following required clerkships:

  • Medicine (6 weeks NewYork-Presbyterian, 4 weeks affiliated hospital)
  • Neurology (5 weeks) / Neurosurgery (1 week)
  • Ob/Gyn (5 weeks)
  • Pediatrics (5 weeks)
  • Primary Care (5 weeks)
  • Psychiatry (5 weeks)
  • Surgery (5 weeks) / Anesthesiology (1 week)

Surgical Subspecialties (one week of each of the following):

  • Ophthalmology
  • Orthopedic Surgery
  • Otolaryngology
  • Urology

In addition, all students will each take one two-week selective from the following options:

  • Dermatology
  • Emergency Medicine
  • Orthopedic Surgery
  • Pathology (clinical)
  • Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
  • Radiation Oncology
  • Radiology
  • Urology