The Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Lankenau Hospital has been teaching the third-year CORE curriculum to Jefferson’s junior medical students for more than 30 years.  Our faculty and residents are committed to teaching students, who readily become part of the Ob/Gyn team, function at a high level, and uniformly report a positive experience.

Clinical Experience

Students are divided so that two are assigned to Gynecology, one to Labor and Delivery, and one to Gynecologic-Oncology and one to Night Float.  The length of time each student spends on one service depends on the number of weekdays students are at Lankenau during that particular block.  Students perform history and physicals, write progress notes and orders on patients daily.  The appropriate resident for each service is the students’ preceptor for these activities.  Students typically follow between three to seven patients per day depending on their ability, and ultimately are expected to be highly involved with patient care.  Following is a brief description of the specific experience received on each service.

• Gynecology – Monday/Wednesday mornings and Friday afternoons, there is Ob/Gyn/Family Planning clinc. The chief residents and the attending faculty supervisor teach students during clinic.  Students have the opportunity to observe a variety of obstetric and gynecologic conditions – from normal through high risk Obstetrics and from routine annual Gyn exams through serious gynecologic pathology requiring medical and surgical intervention.
  
  Tuesdays and Thursdays are spent in the Operating Room with each student assigned to specific cases.  These occur both in the Ambulatory Procedure Center where most minor procedures are done, and the main operating room where major abdominal, laparoscopic and vaginal surgery is performed.  This is a unique experience because of the opportunity to assist not only senior residents but also private faculty, thereby witnessing different operative techniques.  Students are expected to have performed a patient’s physical and be knowledgeable of the history, diagnosis and impending procedure.

• Obstetrics (Labor & Delivery)  – This student is in the Labor/Delivery Suite and on the mother/baby floor.  He/she may attend clinics on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, which is exclusively for obstetric patients.  The PGY #2, who is the first line in-charge physician in Labor and Delivery and the chief obstetric resident supervise the student.  With four Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialists on the faculty and a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Nursery, there is ample exposure to both normal and high-risk deliveries.  Once again, with both a private and clinic patient population, students may witness a variety of delivery methods including vacuum, forceps and cesarean sections.  Students are expected to follow patients from admission throughout labor, delivery and their postpartum course.

• Gynecologic Oncology – This service is usually busy with patients who may have serious medical or surgical complications. The student works alongside the upper-year resident assigned to Gynecologic Oncology, and our two faculty gynecologic oncologists.  In addition to the operating room and the Gynecologic Oncology nursing floor, time is spent in the gynecologic oncologists’ private office, where colposcopy, cryosurgery and other minor diagnostic procedures are performed.  While this service is probably the most demanding for the student during his/her Ob/Gyn clerkship, the surgical and critical care exposure is invaluable.  One of the gynecologic oncologists is an extremely talented laparoscopic surgeon, who is credentialed in use of the DaVinci robot.  This adds another dimension to the Gyn Oncology service.

• Night Float - This student covers the entire house for Ob/Gyn just as the residents on call do.  However, the majority of time is obviously spent in Labor and Delivery since Obstetrics is a 24-hour a day service.  The experience also encompasses Ob/Gyn patients in the Emergency Room, whether requiring consultation or possible emergent surgery.  Like the residents, students on night float are considered to be on a night shift and stay up all night.  Night float duty is from 5 pm weekdays (6 pm Sundays) until 7 am the next morning.

Didactics 

Students are exposed to multiple opportunities for didactic learning.  There is mandatory attendance at daily sign in, the weekly departmental conference, and the residents’ academic conferences, the ten student-oriented lectures given by members of the faculty, as well as the Jefferson Friday afternoon lecture series.  Included in this listing are problem-based learning sessions facilitated by Michael Belden, MD the student director.  Conferences, lectures and rounds take precedence over all other duties.  Students are responsible for all material given in conferences whether or not they attend.

Work Hours 

The students' day begins about 5:45 a.m. The first order of business is morning rounds, which need to be completed by 7:00 or 7:30 a.m., depending on the day of the week, in order to attend sign-in.  Students are dismissed at the conclusion of sign out daily, which generally occurs about 5 p.m.  Unless they are on call, it is not necessary for students to come into the hospital on Saturdays or Sundays.&

Contact Information

For more information, call Rosemarie Weisenbach at 610-645-4650.