Do:

1. Be there.
2. Take care of your patients. You are the doctor.
3. Take the initiative in caring for your patients. This means assuming a forward and pro-active stance in greeting them on rounds, analyzing their problems, and providing for their needs.
4. Be a member of the team. This means working cooperatively with others, and also consuming your fair share of the educational resources.
5. Use your patient's clinical issues as a stimulus for investigation.
6. Think for yourself. Many a diagnosis has been made by an inquisitive and conscientious student.
7. Maintain professional standards of behavior at all times. This includes appropriate modes of speech, dress, and demeanor.
8. Maintain patient confidentiality and privacy. No patient information should be discussed in public places. The temptation to tell your friends that you are taking care of a celebrity, or that she has gallstones, must be resisted.
9. Seek appropriate supervision for decisions and actions.
10. Be sure that all of your notes and orders are countersigned by your supervising physician.
11. Learn.

Don't:

1. Don’t fail to show up
2. Don't abandon clinical care to go to the library. It is important to read in the clerkship, but the primary activity should be based on patient care.
3. Don't hold back. If you wait at the back of the group during rounds, the intern or resident will take the initiative and take care of the patient.
4. Don't wait for others to make the clinical decisions. If you simply behave as the executor of someone else's plan, you won't learn much and you certainly won't retain what you have learned.
5. Don't write an order, or do anything to a patient, unless you are absolutely certain that it is right.
6. Don’t log-on to the computer using someone else’s code.
7. Don’t copy and paste progress notes. This process is very susceptible to error.
8. Students should not administer intravenous or other parenteral medications.