Clinical Clerkship at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University

Abstract

1) Clinical education at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University consists of three parts: the preclinical clerkship which prepares students for clerkship, short observatory or partially participatory clinical education, called the combination block, and long participatory clinical education, the clinical clerkship. The clinical clerkship consists of core-and elective-rotations, including ten four-week rotations and two two-week rotations.
2) In implementing clinical clerkship, we sent up to 100 faculty staff to and carefully studied the model used at the Harvard Medical School, and developed our own original one that fits the Japanese setting.
3) To successfully implement the clinical clerkship, we developed a demo movie clip showing students’ expectation and tips for teaching, handed each student a cell phone to carry, allowed students’ charting to the electronic medical record system under supervision, and distributed a handout describing clerkship to all medical and paramedical staff.