Dermatology Electives and Selectives

Dermatology (IM4 903L-4) for 4 weeks

Attendance: Absences and time off must be approved by the rotation director. Students are required to attend check-in and system orientation with Visiting Student Affairs. See the attendance policy for additional details.

Location: Carilion Clinic Dermatology - Riverside 1

Available: August – June

Duration: 4 weeks, starting any Monday and ending Friday

Number of students per rotation: 1-2

Prerequisites: N/A

Overview: The elective consists of dermatology outpatient clinics at Carilion Clinic Dermatology's Riverside and Franklin Road offices and consultations at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. The student will participate in both resident and attending clinics. Clinic experiences include general dermatology, procedural dermatology, cosmetics, Mohs micrographic surgery, pediatric dermatology, complex medical dermatology, dermatopathology, and inpatient consultative dermatology. The student will do chart reviews, take histories, and perform physical examinations. In consultation with the attending physician, the student will develop a differential diagnosis, plan the diagnostic evaluation, and design a management plan for the patient’s skin disease. The student will assist/perform cryotherapy and skin biopsies under direct supervision.  The student will also attend weekly dermatopathology conferences and didactic sessions with the dermatology residents. At the end of the rotation, the student is expected to deliver a brief oral presentation on a clinically relevant or interesting case encountered during the rotation.

The student will become progressively proficient and knowledgeable in the following:

  1. Taking a focused history for skin diseases. 
  2. Listing the signs and physical findings to look for in general and in certain specific skin diseases.
  3. Accurately using the terms for describing the morphology of basic skin lesions.
  4. Developing a differential diagnosis based on morphologic diagnosis, and prioritizing the list, based on the history, physical examination, laboratory results and knowledge of the epidemiology of skin diseases.
  5. Understanding the basic findings on dermatoscopic examination of common skin lesions. 
  6. Describing Mohs Micrographic surgery and the workings of a Mohs laboratory.
  7. Discussing the interpretation of skin biopsies.
  8. Applying cryotherapy, performing shave and punch biopsies, and assisting with excisions of benign and malignant skin lesions.
  9. Identifying the mechanism of action, dosing, and adverse events of topical therapeutics and phototherapy as well as systemic and biologic drugs used in dermatology.
  10. Accurately interpreting KOH prep and other bedside diagnostic techniques.