The fourth-year medical student clerkship in surgery at Lankenau Hospital uses the same core curriculum as the third-year clerkship but with significantly more responsibilities and flexibility. The fourth-year clerk will be responsible for evaluating more patients, following them through the operating room and postoperatively, similar to the experience of the first-year resident. He or she will be more involved in the operating room, including opportunities to do more suturing and minor procedures.

His or her assignments will be flexible, i.e., choosing work with a single attending surgeon or mentor, or working with one or both surgical teams as a functioning intern or first-year resident. The student will have more flexibility in viewing operations of his or her choice and rotating on various subspecialty services.

Night call for fourth-year clerks is not mandatory but encouraged. A fourth-year clerk is not required to stay overnight or sleep in the hospital but could certainly do so if desired. Sleeping facilities are available.

To obtain honors designation, a fourth-year clerk would be required to research and write and/or report on a specific surgical topic of his or her choice. To gain the most from this rotation, enthusiasm, a certain amount of aggressiveness, and independence are required.

Contact Information

Please call Susan Mariano, General Surgery Residency Program Coordinator at 610-645-2169 or you may email her at marianos@mlhs.org with your inquiries about the clerkship.