Cell 800-01: Research/Service Learning in Cell and Molecular Biology
Spring 2010
Wed. 2-4pm and Fri.3-4pm, Boggs 239
Course Director/Instructor:
Dr. Garic Grisbaum
Director of the One-Year Masters Program
Director of Pre-Medical Education
Professor of Practice
Department of Cell and Molecular Biology
School of Science and Engineering
Office: 4011 Percival Stern
Email: ggrisba@tulane.edu
Phone: (504)865-5582
Office Hours: By Appt.
Course Description:
The focus of this course is to develop your history taking skills, how to fit into the
hospital/clinic milieu as a professional, develop proper bedside manner, learn how to read
through a medical chart, and work through any frustrations or emotions you may
encounter when in the clinical setting. We will accomplish this through lecture and
classroom examples, before you proceed in the hospital/clinic. You will learn how to
establish a positive physician/patient relationship and we will explore problems (i.e. with
healthcare, patient education, patient frustrations, etc.) that you, the patients, community,
and hospital/clinic see while doing your rotations. You have the opportunity to spend
time in a number of different clinical settings, Ochsner Hospital, Elmwood
Hospital(which is affiliated with Ocshner), Touro Hospital, Childrens Hospital, local
Physicians, Tulane Community Clinics, and local Dentists. At the Ochsner main campus
students have the opportunity to choose between Internal Medicine, OB/GYN, and the
Emergency Department. At Elmwood, which is affiliated with Ochsner, but not on their
main campus, students will have the opportunity to work in Rehabilitation (Stroke, Spinal
Injury, and Motor Vehicle accident patients). At Touro the students may be partnered
with individual doctors or residents in various departments, including Emergency and
Oncology. Those students who will be rotating with the Tulane Community Clinics will
be working with Dr. Karen DeSalvo and her team, at various Clinics throughout the New
Orleans area. The students who are doing the Dental Track will be working with a local
Dentist, in their office. Each student will be learning through observation, scripted
patient questions, and doing psychosocial histories independently. At all of the
hospitals/clinics students may have the opportunity to read patient charts, go to noon
conferences, and round with physicians, interns, residents, and medical students,
confidentiality is of utmost importance. Students must be proactive with the Medical
staff, introducing themselves and asking about the above mentioned opportunities. We
will discuss how to do this in class. It is also a good idea, once you have been put into
contact with Tulane medical students, for those students who are doing the Medical
Track, to accompany them to classes and ask them about opportunities to attend different
clinics and/or weekend Health Fairs. We will discuss in weekly meetings, time
permitting, the differences between the hospitals and clinics, through your interactions
and observations, while doing your rotations through each hospital/clinic. Students will
be introduced to the team approach of medicine and experience it while in the
hospital/clinic. We will also work through any emotions, frustrations, or observations
that surface during the course to help each student with personal growth and
understanding.
Course Overview:
Perhaps nothing distinguishes medicine or dentistry more than a strong and healthy
doctor/patient relationship and the importance of working together as a team. We will
examine, in class, how to take a good, thorough history, promoting oneself in a
professional manner, and learn how to guide the discussion in a way that is nonthreatening and positive. As a class, we will approach the above through lecture, group
discussion, journals (via email), and using these skills in the hospital independently and
through observation. 1. We will discuss in class the differences you observe between the
hospitals/clinics, the team approach to medicine, and you will examine these in the
hospital setting.
2. As a class we will delve into any fears, emotional issues, and your observations, while
doing your rotations, in group discussions, email journals, and on an individual basis.
3. You will be writing a paper at the end of the fall semester, on your hospital
rotation, which should be 7-10 pages. It should include the following: 1. what you
expected your experience to be, what actually occurred, and how you made the
adjustment. 2. Any emotions or fears you may have had before starting your rotations
and how you worked through these issues, during your time in the hospital and in class.
3. Your experience and feelings in rounding with the team, from the beginning of the
semester, including changes that occurred as you progressed through the semester. 4.
What teams were the best to round with, which ones were not, and why? 5. How you
have progressed with taking histories and forming a bound with your patients, throughout
the semester. 6. How your comfort level grew, in regard to being on the unit and
becoming part of the team, as you progressed through the semester. 7. The therapeutic
value to the patients and your growth as a communicator that was witnessed through the
semester, through personal reflection. Also include any other positive or negative
observations, during your rotations and any other information that you feel is important.
(Note: For the spring semester there will be a paper 7-10 pages discussing the pro’s
and con’s of the one year Masters Program)
Course Goals:
1. Learn to conduct yourself in a professional and positive manner.
2. Be able to take a thorough psycho-social history
3. To become a good and empathetic listener.
4. To appreciate the different dynamics of the institutions that you will be rotating
through, as well as, the team approach to medicine/dentistry.
5. To identify common problems and frustrations viewed as significant to the patients,
hospital/clinic staff and you as a student, through your observation and questions.
6. To complete a written assignment, at the end of the fall semester, in which you discuss
your hospital rotation, which is outlined above. (Omitted for the spring semester, in
which you will do a 7-10 page paper on the Pro’s and Con’s of the MS program).
7. To work through any fears or emotions that may surface while doing your rotations in
the hospital, which will further enhance your personal growth.
8. Learn how to read medical charts
9. As a result of your participation in service learning activities, each student will become
engaged in and provide a service to the community.
Course Objectives:
1. to use, from lecture, readings, and classroom exercises; resources and tips to work on
projecting you in a positive and professional way in the community.
2. Evaluate what is included in a history, how to approach taking a history, and to
practice this in real life situations through observation and independently.
3. To take all the tips on how to become a good and empathetic listener and apply them
all in a medical setting. You will figure out which ones work best for you and also
come up with other tips for your fellow students that may have not been presented
through your readings or lectures and share them in our discussions.
4. In working in the different hospital and clinic settings you will evaluate the differences
between the hospitals and clinics.
5. While doing your rotations through the hospitals you will ask a number of questions in
an attempt to identify problems facing the patients through scripted questions.
6. Write a 7-10 page paper on the rotation you did for during the fall semester.
7. Write a 7-10 page Pro’s and Con’s paper in the spring semester.
8. There will be fears, frustrations, observations, and other emotions that will surface by
doing your rotations in the hospital. You will identify these feelings, think about why
they may be coming out, add your own insight into these feelings, and discuss them in
your email journals, and in group discussions in order to achieve personal growth and
understanding.
9. Learn through classroom examples and independently in the hospital/clinic how to
look at the medical chart
10. Your service to the community will be gauged on your completion of hours, journals,
class discussion, and written assignments.
Required Texts/Readings:
Bates, Barbara. Most recent edition. A Pocket Guide to Physical Examination and
History Taking.
J.B. Lippincott.
A medical dictionary
There will be a number of further readings, identified below, that you will present to your
classmates as a group. Students, along with the instructor, will determine who will
present what readings and the date that these presentations will be done.
Weekly Semester Schedule:
During the first few weeks of class there will be an introduction to history taking and
empathetic listening. The class will then practice together these skills learned in class,
before going to the hospital to do it independently. You will also be watching a film,
“The Making of a Doctor”, then we will discuss any feelings that are brought up by the
film and any comments you may want to share with the class.
Before entering the hospital/clinical setting to complete your required service hours, the
class will discuss, as a group, any fears or other emotions that they may be having
regarding their service component.
How to promote yourself and Tulane University in a professional and positive manner,
dress, how to introduce yourself to staff and patients in the hospital/clinical setting, and
confidentiality.
There will be required readings for the class and all of you are required to know the
readings and lead the discussion of that article or chapter for that class period. Everyone
is required to read and know the material, before class, and is able to lead the
discussion during class; participation is required and will count toward your final
grade.
During the semester the class will discuss your observations regarding the differences
between the hospitals/clinics and the different units they are rotating through.
An introduction to the students required paper, for the fall, which will be completed by
the end of the semester. This paper has been outlined in the Course Overview section.
(Omitted in the Spring Semester and replaced with a Pro’s and Con’s paper)
After starting the rotations at the service site, the class will meet bi-weekly to discuss any
emotions or frustrations that may be arising, and work through any and all issues
presented.
For the Medical Track and Dental Track students there will be email journals that will be
sent to ggrisba@tulane.edu, no later than 2pm, on Thursday’s. For the Research Track
Students there will be email journals that will be sent to Dr. Inglis, inglis@tulane.edu, at
her specified time and date. In these email journals there will be any observations, at the
hospital/clinic, that students feel are important, how that week of classes has gone for
you, any problems you may be experiencing, anything I or Dr. Inglis can do to help, and
anything else you feel is important to discuss. This will help to promote a more active
environment for our meetings.
Overview of Course Assignments:
5% Attendance and Participation in weekly meetings/class-After you start your
scheduled service assignment we will meet, as a class, every week to discuss your
rotations, classes, and the application process. These meetings will be open to any and all
observations students make while doing their rotations, including frustrations, problems,
insight, and changes in personal views, case histories, emotional issues, or any other
issues that students want to discuss. We will also discuss your psychosocial histories.
Your attendance will be half of the grade and the participation portion of the grade, based
on your involvement in discussions, will be determined by the instructor.
15% patient psychosocial history every week- This portion of your grade will be
discussed on the first day of class in the Spring Semester. The patient history will be
graded by me and there will be a total of ? psychosocial histories done in the spring
semester. The first one will be due after I make a determination on the classes
readiness, so I will determine this at a later date and make an announcement in
class. After this determination has been made all students will be required to turn
one in, and have it in class, ready to present. Your histories should include the
following, presented in bullet format: 1. What the patient does on a typical day and how
has this been affected by their illness. 2. Education, 3. Religious beliefs and how strong
of a factor it plays in their life 4. Where they live, duration, any other places they’ve
lived and who resides with them. 5. Employment, including current and past, how long,
do they enjoy it, and if it has been affected by their illness. 6. Diet, what they eat in a
typical day and weekly, any restrictions 7. Exercise, what they do and how long, their
weekly routine. 8. Sleep, how much, any trouble falling or staying asleep, do they feel
well rested. 9. Do they have a significant other, if so, how long and their history together
10. Children or Grandchildren, are they close, what they do, where they live. 11.
Tobacco use, pack year history. 12. Alcohol use, how much, how long, any problems
from it. 13. Drugs, how much, how long, any problems 14. Hobbies and Interests
Included in this portion of your grade will be handing in your psychosocial history,
presenting it in class, and answering questions.
25% weekly email journal-Medical Track and Dental Track: journals should be sent to
Dr. Grisbaum, no later than 2pm on the scheduled Thursdays. For the Medical Track and
Dental Track students, each day the journal is late, it will be dropped a letter grade.
Please include relevant observations, frustrations, problems, emotional issues, and also
include how your week of classes went. (For the Spring Semester, journals will start
on Thursday, January 21st. There will be a total of 6 journals this semester, due on
the following Thursday’s (by 2pm), Jan. 21st, Feb. 4th, Feb. 25th, Mar. 11th, Mar. 25th,
and the last one on Apr. 15th.
25% Final Project- For the Spring semester your final project will be in the form of
a paper, 7-10pages, giving the pro’s and con’s of our masters program and
personally what you thought the program would be and what you got out of it. You
will hand in the Final Paper on April 23rd, during class or you can hand it in before
this date to me or put it in my mailbox.
30% Completion of 50 service hours-Dr. Agnieska Nance, with the Center for Public
Service, will email you with your first rotation assignment, as well as, your second
rotation assignment. However, most students will know which rotation they will be
doing and informed by me. Those students who are doing the Tulane Community Clinics
as their rotation, you will be contacted by Ms. Natalie Cooley, who is the Volunteer
Coordinator for the Clinics. Students who are at Ochsner or Touro you will find the
contact information for Volunteer Services, including name, number, and email under
Service Placement. For the Dental Track Students you will find this contact information
under that heading as well. Your grade will be determined as follows: You must
complete a minimum of 50 hours at the assigned hospital and unit each semester. You
will be assigned to either Elmwood Hospital (an Ochsner affiliate), Ochsner Hospital,
Childrens Hospital, Touro Hospital, Tulane Community Clinics, or Dental Clinic and will
stay at that assigned spot the entire semester. You may then change, if desired, to the
other hospital and unit or clinic that you haven’t rotated through during your second
semester and complete another minimum of 50 hours, if allowed by the facility. The 50
hours must be done on a regular pattern throughout the semester, you can not wait until
the last couple of weeks or month to complete these hours, if so, your grade will
reflect it. You must sign each time you do your hours at the hospital/clinc, so you will
receive credit for being there. Appropriate dress must be worn while completing your
hours at the hospital (ladies-blouse and slacks, or dress men-slacks with shirt and
tie, no open-toed shoes, no tennis shoes, and no revealing clothing, jeans, or shorts
or the provided unit attire). This is to promote you and Tulane University in a
professional manner and it will help you in seeing and participating in much more at the
hospital/clinic. You must be active during your hours spent at the hospital in order to
provide a service to the hospital assigned, but more importantly, to get as much as you
can out of this unique experience, if you have down time, pick up a chart and read to
familiarize yourself with charting.
Service Assignment:
Each student can choose to do research with a faculty member if they do not want to take
part in service learning or do a Dental rotation with a local Dentist.
Each student doing service learning must complete a total of 50 hours each semester, and
you must sign in each time to receive credit. The student will do 1 rotation each semester
at the assigned hospital or clinic. You must do your required hours on a regular basis
during the semester, usually accounts for 5 hours per week. You can not load up your
hours at the end of your rotation or at the end of the semester or it will negatively affect
your grade by dropping you a whole letter grade.
Transportation will be provided by the Center for Public Service, which has a shuttle bus.
They are located at 327 Gibson Hall, and our contact will be Dr. Agnieska Nance,
Assistant Director, Faculty Training and Support, for the Hospital rotations. Her office
number is 862-3348 and email address anance@tulane.edu , if you have any questions.
Each student must ride the shuttle bus for the orientation to familiarize yourself with each
hospital, and then if you want you can drive your own means of transportation. Contact
for the Tulane University Clinics will be Ms. Natalie Cooley, 988-4016; she is the
Volunteer Coordinator for Tulane University Community Health Center, Covenant
House.
Orientations will be discussed in class for the fall semester.
For scheduling, calling in sick, and sign in information, each student must ask this
question at their scheduled unit Orientation.
Each student will start their service assignment after they have completed all the required
orientations, screenings, paper work and have been given the ok to do so.
Each student’s final project will be due at the end of each semester at the last class
meeting.
Service Placement:
Each student will have the option to do service learning in each of the hospitals, one
during the first semester and one during the second semester, if the facility is not full.
We will decide on the hospital and rotation when we meet for orientation.
All students are required to bring with them to orientation their immunization
records from the Student Health Center here on campus. Student Health’s number
is 865-5255, if there are any questions regarding their immunization records.
If there are any problems with any of your rotations please let me, Dr. Nance, Ms.
Cooley, or the Volunteer Coordinators( Denise Chetta at Touro, and either Mary Kathryn
Silvestri, MSW, or Katie Pellittieri know ASAP so we can come up with a solution.
Again, Dr. Nance’s email address is anance@tulane.edu, Ms. Cooley’s number 988-4010
and the contact information for Volunteer Coordinators below:
Ochsner Hospital
Katie Pellittieri
Volunteer Coordinator
842-6787
kpellittieri@ochsner.org
Mary Kathryn Silvestri, MSW
Guest and Volunteer Services Manager
842-6777
msilvestri@ochsner.org
Touro Hospital
Denise Chetta
Director, Volunteer Services
897-8107
chettad@touro.com
Riverbend Dental Center (8025 Maple Street)
Dr. Glenn Schmidt, DDS
Contact for his office is:
LINDA
861-9044
Dr. Jonah Moore, DDS
Contact for his office is:
899-2333
At Ochsner Hospital you will be assigned to the following areas:
OB/GYN (Main Campus or Elmwood)
Contact person for OB/GYN is Natalie Davis- 842-4172. Give her a call to let her
know your contact information and schedules so she can get you rotation with Dr.
Jody Morris, IV planned. You will start your rotation after your orientation and
health screening.
Emergency Department (Main Campus)
Internal Medicine/Telemetry (Main Campus)
Skilled Nursing/Rehabilitation Unit (Elmwood Campus)
Once you know that you are at Ochsner you must go online www.ochsner.org , hit
the donate and volunteer tab, put what site you are assigned and make a note that
you are one of Dr. Grisbaum’s Masters Students. The Volunteer Coordinator will
call you and set up your orientation, employee health screening, etc., based on your
schedule. There are no more than 2 students at the same time on one rotation, but
you may volunteer at anytime, including weekends. OB/GYN students see
additional information above under OB/GYN.
At Touro Hospital you may be paired with a staff physician or resident, depending on
the time of your shift, at the following:
Oncology
Contact Gene in Dr. Scott Sonnier’s office, 897-8970, so a schedule can be made for
you and contact information gathered. You will begin your rotation with Dr.
Sonnier after completing your orientation and screening.
Emergency Department
Once you know that you are at Touro, see the attached information regarding
Orientaion (Thursday, September 10th in the President’s Room, 5:30-7:30pm), ED
walk through (Wednesday, September 16th or Thursday, September 17th, both at
7:30am) and other important information for each student. ED asks that no more
that three students in the ED at one time and you schedule your shifts in 3-4hour
time slots. Oncology students will be given Dr. Scott Sonnier’s contact information.
Oncology students see additional information above under Oncology.
At Children’s Hospital it depends on availability
Contact Mary Ann Gravois as soon as possible with your schedule to get the best
possible location and shadowing opportunity, 896-9486. She is unable to place you
unless you know your schedule and it usually takes 2-3 weeks to coordinate, so
contact ASAP.
At Tulane Community Clinics you will be assigned to one of a number of clinics
throughout the New Orleans Metropolitan area.
Students will have the opportunity to round with the team each weekday morning, please
check with the Doctors and Staff about the time, and is strongly encouraged. Here you
will be observing medical students, interns, residents and staff physicians in the treatment
of patients, who are in house and those admitted on-call the previous night. Your
assigned duties will be discussed during orientation.
At all times the students will respect and adhere to confidentiality of all information
regarding the patient and family members. You must not express personal opinions
regarding a patient’s care or concerns. Any issues will be brought immediately to
the charge nurse or treating physician.
Honor Code: All students are expected to be familiar with and are required to
adhere to all aspects of the Honor Code of the College of Science and Engineering at
Tulane University.
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