Benchmarks
Since it’s inception in Fall 2008, the E4C program has been working to develop a set of benchmarks for our MD curriculum in the following skill areas:
- Physical Exam
- Clinical Reasoning
- Oral Presentations
- Patient Write-ups
- Communication
- Professionalism
- Ethics
- Personal Wellness
Our objective in creating these benchmarks is to provide students and faculty with clear, consistent, developmental guidelines for the acquisition of essential clinical and professional skills pursuant to the MD degree at Stanford. Over the coming months and years, E4C will continue to work closely with the Practice of Medicine course, with clerkships, and with the developing Criterion-Based Evaluation System (CBES) to refine the benchmarks and further integrate them into teaching and learning. We offer below the first version of our Physical Exam benchmarks, and look forward to sharing updates to these (as well as benchmarks in the other skill areas listed above) as they become available.
Acknowledgements
In the development process, E4C consulted other School of Medicine faculty from various specialties, widely-recognized clinical skills texts, and the broader body of medical education literature. E4C would also like to acknowledge the Colleges at the University of Washington School of Medicine for their preceding work in this area and for the gracious input and advice of the Colleges’ leadership in our benchmarking process.