Clinical Distinction

The Hero’s Journey

This post describes the process of designing a specialty track and how it compares to Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. The Journey of Creating a Specialty Project A specialty project is like a good story. You are the writer of the story but you are also the hero. In any good story, the hero goes through…
Competencies: A video

This video was created by Course Director Glenn Davis. It helps explain simply a nebulous concept that is critical to your success in Clinical Distinction. It’s short… and worth your time. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.
Third Year Schedule Explained

At first glance the third year schedule is so different than OMS I and II. After the lottery when you pick your core site, you’ll get an excell document showing you your schedule for the year. You’ll see it’s divided into 13 four week blocks also called rotations (though not all blocks are rotations) Core…
Requirement Review: Specialty Tracks

Requirements for all CD Specialty Courses are the Same Clinical Distinction Specialty Tracks have only a few very straightforward requirements: *CED recognizes that while a student may be prompt about completing his/her work on time, it may be challenging to get faculty signatures on the contract, have an exit interview and get faculty evaluations on…
Comparing Clerkship Tracks to Specialty Tracks

You get out what you put in. Specialty Tracks are definitely more work than a Clerkship track, but the benefits are much more too. Let’s look at the differences: Clerkship Track: A clerkship track requires that you find a clinical site willing to take you for four weeks. You show up and you do whatever…
Final Products

Having a final product for your specialty track is not a requirement. However, for some students, it’s an ideal way to demonstrate what they learned and how they increased their competence. Final products can take nearly any form. Some examples include: You can probably imagine other final products. But, if it’s not required, why would…
Backup Sponsor 1

You know your rotation request form is due 60 days before your course starts and you haven’t found a sponsor. You do have a great idea for a project. Reach out to your Clinical Distinction Course Director and talk to them about being a back-up sponsor. You’ve designed a longitudinal specialty track course and you…
More than a rotation: Combined clerkship activities and independent study – a Specialty Track option

Students who want to distinguish themselves but also want to do a Clerkship can do a Specialty Track which includes clinical activities. They would follow the requirements for the Specialty Track, not the Clerkship style track. The same is true for a student who wants to do research, Global Health, or work on their MPH.…
Board Success? Not Really

I’ve gotten a series of questions lately about the board success track. The truth is most of the information you need to decide if this track is right for you is in the website on the Requirements page on Board Success. That said, this conversation has been interesting…. it goes something like this: “I’ve been suggesting…