SPEC 19
Healthcare Internships Winter 2020

This is not the current course catalog

Experience of a clinical environment is essential to making the decision to enter the health professions. Through this internship, students clarify their understanding of the rewards and challenges that accompany the practice of medicine (human and animal) and dentistry. Generally, a shadowing experience focuses on provider-patient interactions within out-patient and in-patient settings. These experiences provide students with the opportunity to observe clinical interactions, as well as to learn about the systems within which health care is delivered. Students will be introduced to fundamental concepts related to patient interviewing and history taking, diagnosis and medical decision making. Students will also be introduced to core concepts of population health, providing a broad perspective on health outcomes within a geographic region and expanding their perspective on the individual clinical interactions which they observe. This course will encourage participants to reflect on their clinical experiences with a dual focus- from the perspective of the individual provider-patient relationship and within a systems-level context. Didactic sessions for (on-campus students) will focus on the challenges and experiences of healthcare professionals in the Berkshires or nationally. Students will be introduced to concepts of health and wellness, epigenetics, and environmental influences that have a demonstrable, sustained impact on individuals before and after clinical symptoms of illness emerge By the end of the course, students will demonstrate greater understanding of the fundamentals of patient-provider interactions, clinical diagnosis, patient interviewing, and factors affecting the health of individuals and communities.