Medical Student Program - The Clinical Observorship Program (COP)

Policies for Observorships

Definition:
Sub-internship: Is granted to a US medical school student in their senior (4rth) year for duration of 1 month.
Observorship: Is granted to a foreign Medical school student for duration of 1 month.

Scope of duties will be similar for both the sub-interns and observers.

Eligibility Criteria:

For US medical Students:

Students must have finished their core clerkships in Internal Medicine
Must have passed USMLE step 1
Be in good standing at the school

For Foreign Medical Students:

Students in 5 year program:

Must have finished 4rth year successfully
Must have finished 4rth year successfully
Must have passed USMLE step 1 or Step 2
Be in good standing at the school

Students in 4 year program (such as Caribbean schools):

Must have finished core internal medicine clerkships
Must have passed USMLE step 1
Be in good standing at the school

Application Process:

A formal application shall be submitted to the Student and Sub-internship Committee well in advance of the start date. Standardized applications such as ERAS application is acceptable. In the event that ERAS application is not available, the attached application be completed. The following needs to be submitted to the Committee for consideration:

A cover letter detailing desired rotation
A completed Application (such as ERAS)
C.V.
At least one letter of reference from student's clinical supervisor or advisor or an attending physician
USMLE score reports
ECFMG certificate (if available)
TOEFL score report
Health insurance documentation
A recent photograph (optional- to help with writing reference letters)

Application Deadline
A completed application must be received at least 2 weeks in advance of start date. Applications are reviewed once a month.

Selection Process
The Committee on Students and Sub-internships meets once a month. Each application is carefully reviewed. There are 2 slots for General Medicine observorship/Sub-internship each month. We do not offer ICU or Telemetery experience at this time. Selection for observorships/sub-internship is based on following criteria, where no single criteria can guarantee acceptance:

USMLE board scores
Reference letter
Performance in medical school
Interest in Griffin Hospital Internal Medicine Residency program in future and prospects of becoming a resident at Griffin Hospital

Selection is based on a simple majority of votes.

Screening Process
Griffin Hospital reserves the right to screen any worker for drug abuse. Candidates may be asked to undergo drug testing.

It is the policy of the Griffin Hospital to do background checks on its employees. We routinely perform background check on sub-interns and observers. The sub-intern and observer are required to pay for this background check and/or drug testing. The cost of background check is included in the application fee. If a drug testing is mandated, additional costs will incur.

Application Fee
General Medicine: As of March 03, once approved for the sub-internship, a non-refundable processing fee of $400 will be charged. Fee is paid in advance before the start of the rotation. For an additional month of this rotation, additional fee will be $400.
Specialty Electives: As of March 03, a non-refundable application fee of $300 for the first month. For an additional month, additional fee of $500 will be charged.

Policy on Additional Rotations:

It is generally the policy of the Griffin Hospital NOT to extend the duration of sub-internship or observorship to more than a month. Under certain circumstances, we will allow a person to extend the duration:

When there is an empty slot available which has not been filled with a new candidate
Candidates demonstrates satisfactory performance during the month at Griffin.
Candidates chooses to do an available elective where a slot is unfilled by regular students (these electives are offered in various clinical specialties such as cardiology, endocrine, pulmonology, rheumatology, preventive medicine/research etc.)

In the event that a slot is available due to lack of candidate, a candidate shall make a formal request to the Committee for extension. In the event that a present observer and a new application compete for a slot, preference will be given to the new candidate.

No More Than 3 Rotations Will Be Allowed In Any Combination.

Available Slots
At this time, two slots, one each in General Medicine Team A and B are available. Future slots in Telemetery team and electives rotations are possible. These options will be explored in the future meetings of the committee. Beginning July 1st, 2003, observers may choose to do Preventive Medicine Rotation/ Research Elective.

Evaluation and Feedback:

Evaluation of sub-internship or observorship performance is based on:

Teaching Attending's feedback and written evaluation
Resident feedback and written evaluation
Intern's feedback and written evaluation
Any other formal or informal feedback with may include:

Nursing evaluation
Patient feedback
Chief Resident's feedback
Feedback from morning reports and lectures participation

Reference Letters
Candidate may request letters of reference from the teaching attending on the team. Additional letters can be requested from attendings with whom candidate had significant interaction. The Committee on Students and Sub-interns is responsible for soliciting such letters. It is the candidates' responsibility to obtain such letters.

Miscellaneous:

Parking
Free parking is provided in the lower lot across from the hospital on Seymour Ave. parking lot. Sub-interns are expected to park in the upper parking lot in front of the hospital's main entrance.

Food
Candidates are not provided with food or food coupons.

Lodging
Griffin hospital does not make arrangements for logding or rental of apartment. Candidates are directed to local newspaper (www.connpost.com or www.newhavenregister.com) in order to find suitable accommodation.

Equipment
Sub-interns and observer will be a given a temporary beeper which must be returned at the end of the rotation. We do not provide white coat, on-call gowns, stethoscope, tendon hammers etc.