Practice of Medicine: The Basics

– a series of important topics are outlined and are comprised of the many basic clinical skills that an individual pursuing a medical career must know before they can enter a clinical environment. These topics include universal precautions, medical terminology, clinical symptoms, a review of vital signs, a complete outline of a detailed history and physical examination, effective communication skills, basic emergency care training, venipuncture, and phlebotomy.

Universal Precautions

Universal precautions entail basic precautionary methods that those in the healthcare field should use. This section covers hand washing, surgical hand scrubbing, how to use sterile gloves and gowns, and how to handle infection within a clinical setting.

Medical Terminology

Anatomy

Physiology

Pharmacology

Vital Signs

Vital signs are basic evaluations that can be taken of a patient in every scenario and can be used to determine what methods should be used to improve their health or even save their life. This section covers how to take and read a blood pressure measurement, how to take a pulse, and how to take other vital signs such as if the patient is conscious, breathing, etc.

Clinical Symptoms

List of Clinical Signs

A Practical Guide to Clinical Medicine

History and Physical Examination

History and Physical Examination are very important aspects of the physician-patient conversation that every student must learn before entering a clinical environment. By taking history and gathering data through the physical examination, a physician is able to better understand and diagnose a patient’s maladies and give them the best treatment available. This section covers how to implement effective communication skills, how to perform patient-centered interviews, how to identify chief complaints, how to take a full history of previous illnesses, and how to perform a physical examination.

Patient Care

Emergency Care Training

Emergency care training includes all basic methods used on-site when an emergency arises, and can be used to save many lives if implemented properly. This section covers a broad overview of the body’s anatomy and physiology, resuscitation guidelines, how to perform CPR in various scenarios, and how to prevent and stop choking in various scenarios as well.

Phlebotomy

Venipuncture and starting IV lines

Venipuncture and IV lines describe how to implement intravenous cannulation, providing fluids, nutrients, drugs, or other substances to a patient in order to treat them or save their life. This section covers information regarding veins and how to find them, how to perform venipuncture using the butterfly method, how to perform IV cannulation on various parts of the body, and how to perform all methods within infants and children.

Technical training is a very important aspect that a medical student should learn and understand before beginning their clinical experience. The information provided within HIPAA training is vital in order to maintain the protection of patients’ privacy and trust within the patient-doctor relationship. The information provided within the electronic records training is vital for keeping patients’ information within a secure, organized place. Finally, the information provided by the Epic software training session assists medical students in understanding how the Epic software organizes patient information and can be shared by coordinating licensed physicians when treating patients with the best possible care. This section covers HIPAA training, electronic records training, and Epic software training.