I feel that I have acquired skills over my two semesters in Clinical Correlations that I did not have before. Despite the course being online and therefore lacking the in-person skill-building, I still felt that through the interaction between my classmates and professor, I was able to work on communication regarding the case, possible differential diagnoses, work up and treatment.

A specific skill I feel I have gained is in presenting information that I have researched or organized for an H&P in a clear, concise way. In my first semester of Clinical Correlations, the first round in particular, when assigned a topic to research I would write down and present everything I explored. I found that when doing this, the main ideas and key points got lost in the mix and both my classmates and I were left overwhelmed and unable to connect the information back to the case being discussed. After a few rounds and definitely by now, two semesters later, I feel like I have truly gained the skill of understanding the case being presented, researching a related or involved topic thoroughly and then being able to deliver the most important and relevant information in an organized, logical, concise manner.

I also feel that I now understand more and have a greater grasp at formulating differential diagnoses. As the semesters have gone on, the suggestions of both my professors and classmates have opened my eyes to the most common and likely differential diagnoses based on the case at hand. I have been reminded to not forget to include the diagnoses that may be uncommon and it has been reinforced to keep a wide differential and to not have tunnel vision when thinking the diagnosis is one thing and it turns out to be another, less expected one.

I plan on working on various areas more during the clinical year as I interact with patients and bring the didactic year to life, but one area I especially plan on improving on is in my ability to formulate differential diagnoses. While I do feel that I have gained more skills in this area and have improved since the beginning of Clinical Correlations, it’s an area that remains one which will require a lot more hard work and dedication. Hopefully as I see more patients, analyze more cases and receive guidance from those at my clinical sites, I will improve leaps and bounds from where I am now.