Medical Student Electives

DESCRIPTION: Teaching is based on the patient material available in both the inpatient and outpatient services at University Hospitals and the Wade Park Veterans Affairs Medical Center, including the inpatient consultation services. Participation in the twice weekly didactic sessions is expected, which include journal clubs, basic science and clinical conferences and city-wide grand rounds. For students that have a particular interest in dermatopathology, additional experience in histopathology is available. Students on the UH/VAMC and on the MetroHealth electives attend the same didactic conferences and can exchange clinic sessions with each other as staffing permits. The student will be evaluated on the basis of his/her acquisition of basic dermatologic descriptive and diagnostic skills and his/her participation in other clinical and education sessions each day. Interested students may visit the web site: http://derm.metrohealth.org/rotator.asp to obtain information on rotations and conferences.

OBJECTIVE: To be able to describe, recognize and treat the common dermatologic problems of adults and children.

DUTIES: Students are supervised by residents and/or faculty. Once adequate faculty with dermatologic history and physical examination is acquired, students may do their own preliminary evaluations, and present the cases to a supervising resident, who will assume continuity of care for the patient. No weekend or night call is required.

PREREQUISITE: None.

Note: during the COVID-19 pandemic, this in-person rotation is offered only to medical students from Case Western Reserve University.

DESCRIPTION: Teaching is based on the patient material available in both the inpatient and outpatient services at University Hospitals of Cleveland and the Wade Park Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center. Participation in twice weekly didactic sessions, Journal Clubs, basic science and clinical conferences and city wide grand rounds is expected. Students on the Hospital Dermatology elective can exchange clinical sessions with those taking outpatient dermatology electives.

OBJECTIVES: 1) To enable students to accurately describe cutaneous lesions. 2) To enable students to identify and diagnose common dermatologic disorders as seen in the hospital setting. 3) To enable students to perform common laboratory procedures (e.g., KOH, Tzanck). 4) To enable student to initiate therapy for common dermatologic disorders and know when referral is appropriate. 5) To provide student with insight into complex dermatologic patients and their inpatient management. Student will be supervised by resident and/or faculty of the department of Dermatology. After initial orientation, student will be able to perform initial evaluation and present to supervising physician. No night or weekend call is required. Students will be evaluated on the basis of their ability to discuss pathomechanisms and describe dermatologic patients, diagnostic and therapeutic skills and participation in required activities.

Note: during the COVID-19 pandemic, this in-person rotation is offered only to medical students from Case Western Reserve University.

DESCRIPTION: As a result of profound changes, the field of mycology is passing through a very exciting and challenging period. This period is characterized by an alarming increase in the incidence of invasive and mucocutaneous fungal infections. The development of resistance to antimycotics, especially azole-resistance, is becoming recognized as a growing problem. Fortunately, this period is also characterized by the introduction of a plethora of new antimycotic agents, including fluconazole, itraconazole, terbinafine and various liposomal preparations of polygenes (amphotericin B and Nystatin). This course will cover these areas and introduce the students to the state-of-the-art development in the field of mycology. Clinical exposure to patients, private as well as clinical study patients will be included in this course. Hands on experience in clinical, laboratory, and basic mycology will be reviewed.

OBJECTIVE: To familiarize students with the emergence of fungal infections in the era of immunocompromised patients and modern therapeutic modalities.

DUTIES: Student will be supervised by faculty of the Center for Medical Mycology. No night or weekend call is required.

PREREQUISITE: None.

Note: during the COVID-19 pandemic, this in-person rotation is offered only to medical students from Case Western Reserve University.

DESCRIPTION: The main objective of the elective is to expose the students to the variety of skin lesions that are evaluated by histology in dermatopathology (nevi, melanoma, cutaneous carcinomas, psoriasis, lupus erythematosus, drug eruptions, infections by bacteria, viruses and mycobacterial, among others). This is accomplished at regular daily sign-out at the microscope, where slides are reviewed together and clinical correlations discussed for interesting cases. By the end of the elective period, students are typically proficient in the histologic diagnosis of common skin lesions such as basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, actinic keratosis, cysts and melanocytic nevi, and know the clinical appearance of these lesions. The students will participate in daily signout and give a brief (5 – 10 minute) oral presentation to the attending faculty members and rotating residents on one interesting case from the biopsies reviewed during the elective.

NOTE: Prerequisite – student must have satisfactorily completed a Dermatology rotation prior to taking this rotation.