SAEM Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
901 N. Washington Avenue
Lansing, Michigan 48906-5137
Telephone: (517) 485-5484
FAX: (517) 485-0801
E-Mail: saem@saem.org

Introduction to the Medical Student Educator's Workbook
David E. Manthey, MD

Undergraduate medical education in Emergency Medicine (EM) is typically a stepping stone for faculty on their way to a residency director position. Many who have dedicated their careers to undergraduate education find fault in this outlook. The premise of this book is that undergraduate education is an independent career track. Many faculty placed in the role of medical student director receive little or no guidance and have few mentors. This book is designed to provide the undergraduate educator with guidance in the key areas of designing and implementing a medical student rotation. Some resources do exist for the medical student educator. The American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the Society of Teachers of Family Practice have published guides for clerkship directors. While these books are useful, the material and advice does not always apply to EM. Several major differences exist between EM and the classic clerkships.
  1. EM faculty do not typically have prolonged contact with one medical student. This makes it more difficult to give appropriate feedback, evaluations and grades.
  2. EM covers a much broader range of information than many clerkships.
  3. Much of the material we teach overlaps with previous clerkships.
  4. Instead of focusing on a disease process, much of our curriculum focuses on an approach to a specific complaint.
The SAEM Undergraduate Medical Education Committee and the SAEM Medical Student Educator's Interest Group have developed this guide for EM medical student educators and clerkship directors. This book is similar to the AAMC Guidebook for Clerkship Directors and will focus on specific issues faced by the EM medical educators, course directors, and directors of undergraduate education within a department, division, school, or hospital. The chapters provide insight and guidance to the medical student educator. For controversial issues or those with more than one solution, we have attempted to give pros and cons to each issue or solution. In this way, this book does not dictate a solution but allows the reader to understand the key issues more fully. Recommendations are generic and can be applied to most institutions. Solutions specific to any one program may be used as an example but will not define the proposal. This book was written to aid medical student educators develop and implement the best rotation for their medical students. Experts in the field have given their advice on subjects that are germane to the EM medical student rotation. Where there is evidence or literature to support the commentary, it has been referenced for the reader. We hope that this guidebook will be a valuable tool for all medical student educators. We would appreciate any comments, arguments, improvements that you could provide us. The information we can gain will help make the next edition even better.

Please Click Here for the Medical Student Educators' Handbook.