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Tutors are needed for the Patient Centered Care course in the UNC School of Medicine. The course enables students to learn the core clinical skills—History-Taking, Physical Examination, Communication, Clinical Reasoning, Patient-Centered Care, and Professionalism— necessary for future patient care.


Tutors are needed for the Patient Centered Care course in the UNC School of Medicine. The course enables students to learn the core clinical skills—History-Taking, Physical Examination, Communication, Clinical Reasoning, Patient-Centered Care, and Professionalism— necessary for future patient care.

Thank you for your interest in PCC! This class takes place over two semesters: PCC-1 (Fall 2020) and PCC-2 (Spring 2021). This course is often the most exciting aspect of the students’ Foundation Phase of medical school.

The course enables students to learn the core clinical skills—History-Taking, Physical Examination, Communication, Clinical Reasoning, Patient-Centered Care, and Professionalism— necessary for future patient care.

We explore and master these skills together using a variety of modalities. The course is centered around small group work led by tutors and augmented by practice with simulated patients and real patients.

To be a tutor one must be a Clinically Active, Faculty physician within the UNC School of Medicine AND:

  1. See adult or adolescent patients.
  2. Be comfortable in generating differential diagnoses for a wide variety of common complaints.
  3. Be ready to teach the principles of evidence based medicine and clinical reasoning skills.
  4. Be able to perform and teach all aspects of the general physical exam of the adult patient.
  5. Be comfortable in obtaining a complicated history from a patient, including sensitive history involving issues of intimate partner violence, sexual history, giving bad news, and discussing advanced directives.
  6. Be proficient in interpretation of common diagnostic testing (chest and abdominal X-rays, EKGs, labs), and clinical reasoning in developing differentials.
  7. Be a model of professionalism.
  8. Have an active interest in teaching medical students.
  9. Believe in the importance of the physical exam and clinical skills.
  10. Look forward to serving as a teacher and mentor by leading a small group of students.

You will be expected to:

  1. Prepare for and lead weekly sessions with students throughout calendar year.
  2. Commit to 12 months (2 semesters) to work with the group.
  3. Read and give feedback for all student write-ups.
  4. Serve as a professional role model.
  5. Write letters of support when needed.
  6. Give end of course summative evaluations and feedback.
  7. Give active formative feedback of clinical skills on a routine basis.
  8. Participate in clinical skills assessments of students.
  9. Attend faculty development sessions (including faculty retreat prior to the academic year).
  10. Attend at least 80% of weekly tutor meetings.
  11. Bring a spirit of cooperation, constructive attitude and flexibility to the group and course.
  12. Enthusiastically and actively participate in the future transformation of the course, focusing on the primary goal of moving meaningful clinical experiences earlier into the curriculum.

If interested, please submit the following to Jana Nietmann (jana_nietmann@med.unc.edu):

  1. A brief CV
  2. A description of why you want to be a PCC tutor, highlighting your training and experience with medical student teaching
  3. Any relevant evaluations of your teaching

Again, thank you so much for your interest. We look forward to hearing from you.

Tommy Koonce

PCC Course Director