Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA): An honors medical society. From the AOA website: "The top 25 percent of a medical school class is eligible for nomination to the society, and up to 16 percent may be elected based on leadership, character, community service, and professionalism."
Attending (noun): Short for "attending physician," which is the supervising physician in charge of residents and medical students.
CAPE: Center for Advancing Professional Excellence. CAPE is where patient-actors teach first and second year medical students the physical exam. Clinical skills of third and fourth year medical students are assessed in standardized encounters that also use patient-actors or "virtual patients" in the form of medical mannequins that simulate normal physiology and pathological processes. From the CAPE website:
CAPE is a full-service assessment and education center specializing in the use of standardized patients, teaching associates and simulators. ... CAPE pursues excellence in teaching... skills and behaviors of health-care professionals throughout the continuum of their educations and careers by providing a risk-free learning environment utilizing the latest technologies and teaching methodologies.
Chief resident: This is a senior resident who takes on some administrative responsibilities, usually to establish themselves in an academic track. Different specialties do it differently. Internal medicine chief residents are usually elected by their peers, and their "chief year" is done after they finish their three year residency. In contrast, some psychiatry programs call all of their fourth-year residents chief residents, while other psychiatry programs choose one or two chief residents out of the senior class; regardless, those chiefs serve during their psychiatry residency.
Clerkship: Third year clinical coursework. These are required clinical rotations meant to provide the medical student with initial exposure to most fields of medicine. More information about the third year core curriculum at the University of Colorado School of Medicine can be found here.
Dean's Letter (a.k.a. Medical Student Performance Evaluation [MSPE]): Basically a summary evaluation of my performance in medical school compiled and written by the Dean of Student Affairs. Washington University in St. Louis has a great description of the MSPE on their website:
Every medical school submits a summary/evaluation letter of every student's performance to the residency programs to which each student has applied. This is specifically NOT a letter of recommendation, but rather an evaluation of each student's performance in the context of this school. In this letter of evaluation (commonly referred to as the "Dean's Letter" or "Medical Student Performance Evaluation") we describe you as a person, summarize your medical school career in the context of [this school], and may include your awards, extracurricular activities, hobbies, and plans for the future as pertinent to strengthen your application but not to duplicate information already presented. A general description of the student population and the curriculum is included so that program directors can make a more valid comparison of you with students from other institutions. Second year grades and clinical clerkship grades (with brief narratives gleaned from faculty evaluations) are included in each student's letter. Senior electives which are completed in early autumn may be included in the letter. General academic class ranking (upper third, middle third, or lower third) based on your performance on the academic requirements is included, and election to AOA when applicable. Specific details regarding academic encumbrances as appropriate are also included.
Departmental Exam: Non-standardized exam, written and administered by University faculty, that third-year medical students take after completing a given clerkship. These are known to be much easier than shelf exams. Currently, departmental exams at the University of Colorado include: Family Medicine, Neurology, Emergency Medicine, Musculoskeletal, and Surgery.
Elective: Any fourth year clinical coursework that does not meet criteria for being a sub-internship, i.e. is not necessarily inpatient and does not necessarily require taking call.
Externship: A sub-internship done at another institution as a sort of "audition" before applying to that particular residency program. October and November are the most popular months for doing externships since that is right around the time of interview season.
Internship: The first year after graduating from medical school, also the first year of residency. So, "Intern" is just a more specific term for a first-year resident.
ICC: Integrated Clinicians Course. These are required courses during the third and fourth years that include a mix of didactic lectures, small group sessions, and CAPE exams. The ICC at the beginning of third year prepares students for clinical rotations; the ICC in the middle of third year serves to debrief students of their clinical experiences and encourage self-reflection; the ICC at the end of third year is mostly meant to prepare students for fourth year.
ICU: Intensive Care Unit. This is where the sickest patients go for care. Variations are MICU (Medical), SICU (Surgical), PICU (Pediatric), and NICU (Neonatal).
Match (a.k.a. The Match): The process by which medical school seniors are matched with residency programs. This process is facilitated by the National Residency Match Program (NRMP). Briefly, seniors apply to residency programs using the Electronic Residency Application Service provided by the AAMC. The ERAS application can be submitted anytime after September 1st. Soon after, residency programs invite seniors for interviews, which may or may not be during an externship. Interviews typically take place between November and January. In February, students rank residency programs in order of preference, and residency program likewise rank applicants in their order of preference. A big computer in the sky then uses a complicated algorithm to match applicants with programs according to their preferences. Everyone finds out where they matched during Match Week, which is the third week of March.
Preceptor: Any attending physician who supervises or teaches a medical student. During the first two years, the term "preceptor" typically refers to the Foundations of Doctoring preceptor, who is a more long-term mentor figure.
Shelf exam: Standardized nationwide subject exam, administered by the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME), that third-year medical students take after completing a given clerkship. Currently, University of Colorado medical students take only four shelf exams: Internal Medicine, Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and OB/GYN. Compare with departmental exam.
Staff (verb): To present a new patient to the attending physician responsible for that patient. This is different than an oral presentation on rounds in that the purpose is simply communication rather than education. (Example: "I need to staff this 39 year-old heart attack patient with my attending right away so she knows what's going on.")
Standardized patient (SP): From the CAPE website:
A Standardized Patient (SP) is an individual who is carefully trained to portray or simulate all aspects of a real patient as part of a case scenario in order to provide an opportunity for a student to learn or be evaluated on their clinical skills. SPs learn all aspects of a patient portrayal including the patient’s appearance, demeanor, chief complaint, symptoms, past medical history, family history, and physical findings. An SP is carefully trained to not only simulate a real patient in a scenario but also provides feedback to the students, especially in regard to their communication and interpersonal skills. The purpose of using SPs is to give the students the opportunity to practice the communication, diagnostic, and examination skills that they will need before they begin their professional careers.
Sub-internship (sub-I): Fourth year clinical coursework that by definition is in an inpatient setting, requires students to take call, and is at least four weeks long. Sub-I's available at the University of Colorado are in Internal Medicine, Surgery, Pediatrics, and OB/GYN. Compare with elective.
