Clinical Skills Performance Levels: Fill & Download for Free

First a joke…There's a running joke in EMS that if you're working on the scene of a car accident, and a doctor pulls over and offers to help, 9 out of 10 times they'll be a psychiatrist. The other 1 in 10 will be podiatrists :)The joke is meant to poke fun at doctors who don't specialize in emergency medicine… but in reality, any doctor is going to have more education and medical knowledge than I, as an EMT, ever will.*Despite what they end up specializing in, doclings do a bunch of different rotations and learn a wide variety of clinical skills.About first aid…First aid is pretty basic, and when it comes to many first aid-like things (like basic airway management, bleeding control, implementing spinal precautions, or providing seizure first aid), I'd think most docs would do pretty well.When you say "first aid," we're talking about skills a teenager can learn at a Red Cross babysitting class… I'd like to think most shrinks are at least as competent as the average teenage babysitter :)There are definitely clinical skills that take hands-on practice and are likely to fade without repetition. Even at the first-aid or prehospital level, more difficult skills like manually finding a pulse in a patient with a very low blood pressure; distinguishing between abnormal breath sounds in a noisy environment; splinting certain types of injuries; and using certain pieces of specialty equipment are all hands-on skills that will eventually fade in any human being who doesn't practice them for long enough.Regarding diagnostics…Psychiatry requires differential diagnosis… in other words, psychiatrists can't just know what mental illness could be causing a patient's symptoms. They also have to be able to identify other potential medical causes for the patient's symptoms.Furthermore, like all medications, psychotropic meds can cause severe adverse reactions in some people. Psychiatrists have to be knowledgeable about a wide range of possible adverse reactions.Depending on the drug, these can range from the most banal of side effects, like dry mouth (just annoying), to things like liver damage (bad!), tardive dyskinesia (potentially irreversible), or serotonin syndrome (potentially deadly).Psychiatrists have to be able to recognize all of these kinds of things.So, it isn't as though they practice no medicine. At least, they have to be able to identify what else could possibly be causing a patient's symptoms, then figure out how to rule out all of those things, before definitively diagnosing someone with a mental illness.(*That being said, doctors are not used to working in a prehospital setting, and occasionally their sincerest attempts to help can, well, complicate matters.)

Hello greetings!I am MD (Dermatology) and teaching Dermatology for more than 8 years now to PG aspirants across India, so I am the right person to answer this question.There are so many PG aspirants, who after getting good rank fall in the dilemma of whether to choose Dermatology as their preferred branch or not. Here is my answer:Let me first discuss the cons, So, the cons of choosing Dermatology as your specialisation branch are-Tough competition for jobs - Due to an increase in the number of MD seats, there are many applicants for a Dermatology post while jobs (senior resident/ specialist) are limited particularly in the government sector. Openings in medical colleges (Assistant professor) are also fewer in number especially in metro cities.Salary/Income : You will earn enough for your needs but the net income is less when compared to branches like Radiology, Orthopedics , general medicine and gynaecology. The monthly income is much higher for dermatologists doing private practice in towns when compared to cities. ( Of course, like in any other field, the successful specialists at the top earn very well but it takes a lot of time, effort and skill with a tiny bit of luck added to achieve that level of success). Though the pay structure (income) is similar for all in government sector.Start early- Due to increasing competition what ever you have decided to do (I.e. Job in government sector or your own private practice) , you should start early. If you start you career in government sector early , you will be ahead in seniority list , get promotions and increments early and can acquire administrative posts like (Head of Department, Dean, Principal, Medical Superintendent etc ) early and for longer tenure.Chronicity of most skin ailments - Most of the disorders treated by dermatologists are chronic in nature. Immediate resolution without any future recurrences is rare. Sometimes it is frustrating when a disease relapses in spite of all the effort made.The Pros of choosing Dermatology as a specialisation are :No emergencies and no night shifts (except during pg period) - This is very comfortable because your time off from work is entirely your own and you can switch off your phone after work without feeling guilty.Clinical skills - In dermatology, diagnosis is still made on the basis of history and examination while investigations are used only for confirmation. So every case is a clinical challenge and a rare case diagnosed correctly gives you great satisfaction.Procedural dermatology - Nowadays most dermatologists perform minor procedures like chemical peels, electrodessication, cryotherapy, radiofrequency ablation, tattoo removals, micro needling and many more. This is a pro if you enjoy surgical work and is also very rewarding.Hair transplant : Not only plastic surgeons but many Dermatologist are also doing great in this field. So if you have good surgical skills and later you decide to pursue it full time, you can do that. No other branch offers such liberty.Investment - The initial investment to start a skin clinic is not very high. You only need premises and a few basic instruments.To sum up , Dermatology is the right subject for those who wish to pursue an interesting clinical branch without compromising on leisure and family time. The income on the other hand is reasonable but not massive. If you have a good rank with clinical inclination and not ready to work as Radiologist (most preferred medical branch now a days), you can definitely find pride doing MD Dermatology. I am yet to meet a Dermatologist, who regrets taking Dermatology as career.Wish you all the very best!Dr Manish Soni

Many things depend on what level they are at, what skill they are practicing and which area’s medical school is under question.You may ask to answer senior, efficient clinicians like Dr. Liang-Hai Sie for tips to increase the skills. They and their 1–2 decade juniors are persons who are the suitable for demonstration of perfect classical clinical exams like bimanual palpation of spleen. They can better suggest you the paths to make the clinical skills near perfect.Peoples around our age are suitable for showing “this is how bimanual palpation of spleen is performed”. That is not exactly optimum for a future good clinician.