Graduating Students Prepare for Residency

Each year, the graduating students from the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University participate in capstone, an eight-day curriculum experience designed to help them prepare for their first year of residency. The students relish this opportunity to not only enrich their clinical skills, but also to spend valuable time with their classmates before beginning the next phase of their medical career.

Below are some highlights of this year’s capstone activities:

WEEK 1

Tuesday, March 12 (Health Education Campus)

• The capstone rotation began with a short orientation by Neil Mehta, MBBS, MS, Professor of Medicine, Associate Dean of Curricular Affairs and Director of the capstone program, and Debbie Schuster, Program Coordinator.
• The students viewed a video message from Cleveland Clinic CEO and President Tom Mihaljevic, MD, Professor of Surgery, who offered guidance and advice for their residency years.
• Eric Kodish, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, and Katherine Burke, MFA, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, presented a program on professionalism, called“Looking Back/Looking Ahead: On Becoming a Doctor.”
• Charles Kwon, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics; Robert Simon, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine; Richard Wardrop III, MD; and a group of Cleveland Clinic residents led breakout group sessions on “How to Be an Effective Intern.”
• Prior to lunch, students met with the Cleveland Clinic Alumni Relations team including Richard Lang, MD, MPH, Clinical Senior Instructor of Medicine; Susan Rehm, MD, Professor Emeritus of Medicine; Hardeep Phull, MD (‘11); Margaret Bird; Tara Samstag; and Melinda Stroh to learn more about the alumni group and how to stay connected following graduation. The Alumni Relations team provided lunch and alumni swag to the students.
• In the afternoon, Dr. Neil Mehta led a session titled “Staying Up to Date in Your Specialty. Joshua Crites, PhD, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine; Amy Gee, MD; and Katherine Burke led a session on the transition to residency.

Wednesday and Thursday, March 13 and 14 (Simulation Center)

The students spent two full days getting trained and certified in Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) and Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS). The training was led by Cleveland Clinic Nursing Education and professionals from the American Heart Association.

Friday, March 15 (Health Education Campus)

Match Day is the day that medical students across the country find out where they’ll be going for residency. See “Lerner College Students Share Their Excitement About Where They are Headed for Residency,” and view the 2024 Match results.

Fun Facts

Capstone 2024 involved:

• 34 students
• 36 courses
• 66 sessions
• 62 instructors
• 9 days (7 days of coursework, Research Day and Match Day)

WEEK 2

Monday, March 18 (Health Education Campus)

Students participated in a full day of educational sessions on topics such as how to approach the top 10 surgery night calls, transition of care, antimicrobials, goals of care, managing pain, optimizing laboratory testing, prescription writing, surviving internal medicine wards and more.

Tuesday, March 19 (Simulation Center)

Students participated in a full day of hands-on simulation training around airway and crisis management, along with radiology and ultrasound.

In the evening, graduating students enjoyed bowling and duckpin bowling at a local alley.

Wednesday, March 20 (Simulation Center)

Students participated in a full day of hands-on simulation training on topics such as how to approach a crashing patient and medicine on-call problems; basic and laparoscopic suturing and knot tying; cardiac auscultation; and patient hand offs.

In the evening, graduating students gathered to play whirly ball.

Thursday, March 21 (Health Education Campus)

Students participated in another full day of educational sessions on topics such as dermatology emergencies, diabetes management in the hospital, controlled substances, ophthalmology emergencies, principles of IV fluid management, ECG interpretation for interns and more.

Friday, March 22

Students and faculty gathered for the 14^th Annual Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine Research Day, featuring keynote speaker Kalil Abdullah, MD (‘12), MSc. The event was followed by a reception. See “Graduating Students Share Novel Research at Research Day.”

Planning, coordinating and delivering the two-week capstone experience requires significant time from our faculty, staff and residents. To all those who participated in this vital educational experience, we extend our deepest thanks and gratitude. Our students rely on the capstone experience to give them that extra measure of confidence as they begin the next stage of their journey to become physician investigators.

Photo credit: Reen Nemeth