Several UNMC faculty and students were instrumental in a new clerkship guide that assists students as they participate in family medicine rotations.
Paul Paulman, M.D., professor in UNMC’s Department of Family Medicine, is the editor-in-chief of the textbook. He was contacted by the guide’s publisher, Elsevier/Mosby, after assisting with other projects.
“I was very flattered to be asked,” said Dr. Paulman, the director of predoctoral education in family medicine at UNMC. “It’s very gratifying to produce something that may be of value, educationally. It’s very gratifying to see the chapters come in, get them shaped up, and put them together into a guide that is useful for students studying to be physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants.”
The clerkship guide is divided into three sections. Section I describes the characteristics of family medicine practice, introduces the students to their role in the clerkship, provides insights into working in an office-based setting and reviews hands-on skills that are used most often. Section II explains how to approach patients with a specific sign, symptom or abnormal lab value. Section III discusses how to approach patients who have a known condition. The clerkship also includes a 148-question, multiple-choice exam at the end of the book.
“I think it’s a very good product,” Dr. Paulman said. “All of the royalties will go to Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Foundation, which is a fund used to support family medicine preceptors in community medicine.”
The guide is different from others, Dr. Paulman said, because of the number of third- and fourth-year medical students who wrote chapters. “A number of our senior students wrote chapters. That really is uncommon in medical texts. I was very pleased with the work they did.”
In addition, then-student Rob Zatechka, now a resident in anesthesiology at UNMC, served as one of the associate editors for the text. Other associate editors included Jeffrey Susman, M.D., former vice chairman of family medicine at UNMC and current professor and chair of family medicine at the University of Cincinnati; Jeffrey Harrison, M.D, associate professor and residency program director in the UNMC Department of Family Medicine; Audrey Paulman, M.D., clinical associate professor of family medicine at UNMC; and Katherine Finkelstein, a former library official at UNMC and the current assistant director for education services at the Georgetown University Medical Center library.
“We really wanted some quick, easy-to-read text, and all of the authors and editors deserve a great amount of credit for making that happen,” Dr. Paul Paulman said. “We really felt there was a need for this type of clerkship guide, and I’m proud of the work we did.”
The 588-page book, titled the “Family Medicine Clerkship Guide,” is one of a series of clerkship guides published by Elsevier/Mosby. Its 5- by 8-inch format is easily slid into professional laboratory jackets. The clerkship guide’s cost is $29.95, and it is available in the UNMC bookstore, or it can be ordered online from www.elsevier.com.
Dr. Paulman is currently working on two other book projects, both of which also will have major contributions from UNMC faculty. The first is a 10-minute diagnosis manual, while the other is a family practice manual. Both are being published by Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins. Drs. Audrey Paulman and Harrison are serving as second and third authors, respectively, on both projects, and many chapter authors will contribute.