The LIC logbook

The logbook provides a way for both you and the school to track our progress throughout the year to make sure we’re seeing a broad spectrum of conditions and getting necessary experience. It’s easy for logbook entries to pile up if you let too many days pass. In the long run, it’s better to try to get to these daily. Otherwise, you’re likely to forget and not be able to accurately fill out the experiences you’ve had.

The simplest way to do this is by accepting your event for the day and then selecting Add Logbook Entry in the upper right portion of the Event box on E.Flo MD. This should populate the current date in for the logbook entry. It’s pretty common that most of the patients you will see will have comorbid conditions. You can actually select multiple conditions for the same logbook entry! This should really help your progress for the year.

There may be certain conditions or procedures that you do not get the chance to complete. Don’t panic; just speak with your ADCE. The logbook list isn’t comprehensive by any means, and opportunities to do things like CPR may not come often.

WBAs may feel daunting to obtain, especially in the beginning of the year when you are still trying to gain confidence and get to know your preceptors. The best way to go about this is to try to set expectations with your preceptors. Let them know ahead of time that you would like feedback early and often, and that part of that process involves obtaining required evaluations from them.

Try to think ahead about a WBA you may need and anticipate whether you may be able to get that accomplished that day. For example, if you need a physical exam WBA, tell your preceptor ahead of time that you’d like for them to observe and evaluate you performing an exam that day. No one wants to be bombarded at the end of the day or end of a rotation with a stack of papers to fill out.

Speaking of papers, some preceptors really do prefer to fill out WBAs on paper, so it’s good to have them handy if that’s the case. This is particularly true if you mostly work with residents and they don’t have an email connected to our system. Just make sure they are signed by the attending! To submit paper WBAs, just take a picture and email it to the Assessment unit. Otherwise, you can send them the traditional way, via pin or email. Most preceptors will prefer email because they don’t remember their pin. They can be filled out on your iPad in real time with the preceptor, or sent at the end of the day. It’s really all about your relationship with the preceptor.

Try to aim for 1–2 WBAs per week to stay on track. If you consistently have problems or get any pushback about this, speak with your ADCE. It’s part of the faculty agreement with WSU that they need to be completing these for us—just be reasonable about it.