What:  The intention will be to help in integrating both your clinical experience on the rotations and the didactic information you are reading and learning.

 When:  Wednesdays, 4:00 - 5:00 pm, ONLY when the didactics are occuring at Butler Hospital . 

 Where:  This will occur in the same room as your other didactics for that day. .

Each week, one of you will present a case.  The order of this should be decided at the orientation.  You should pick a patient you have seen during this rotation, and present them, using your usual history and examinations (in this case, concentrate on the mental status exam) format. It is understood you may not have all the information, but do your best.

After the presentation, we will discuss clinical issues surrounding the case.  The following questions should be used to structure the discussion:

1.  What is the patient's diagnosis? 

2.  How was this diagnosis arrived at?  What symptoms and signs was the patient presenting that resulted in this?

3. What clinical features of this patient are most typical of the diagnosis?  What, if any features, are unusual for this diagnosis?

4. Considering the patient as a biopsychosocial whole, what about the patient's history, environment, genetics, etc. was likely to have contributed to the patient getting this diagnosis?

5. What is the likely course of the diagnosis?  What aspects of the history or exam suggest a good prognosis?  Bed prognosis?

6. What is the current treatment being used?  Why was this chosen?  How strong is the evidence for this treatment in this particular case?

7.  If the treatment is successful in alleviating the symptoms, what should be done next?  Should the patient be continued on treatment?  Same or different treatment?  How long?

8. If the treatment is not successful, what other options are there for this patient? Are there aspects of the patient that make one or another treatment more likely to succeed or fail?