SPEC 19
Healthcare Internships Winter 2019
No divisional credit
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 healthcare is delivered. 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. Weekly didactic sessions (3) will focus on “substance abuse” as a thematic construct for the discussion of related chronic and acute conditions frequently encountered in clinical and social/behavioral contexts. The thematic focus on substance abuse will allow students to reflect on their clinical experiences across a wide range of clinical specialties and also to engage in discussion of a public health crisis affecting quality of life across the lifespans of Berkshires residents. By the end of the course, students will demonstrate greater understanding of the fundamentals of patient-provider interactions. Students will also demonstrate an enhanced awareness of the systems through which medical care is delivered and the challenges of health care delivery within a rural community. Students will also be expected to reflect on their clinical experiences through didactic sessions and case presentations, as well as in a final paper. Adjunct Instructor Bio: Barbara Fuller is the Director of Science and Health Professions Advising.