This four week clerkship is available every month except July and is open to third and fourth year students. During this clerkship you will be based at one of our three office sites—one urban, one suburban, and one semi-rural—which see 35,000 patient visits per year. Our offices are modern and well equipped for office surgery, casting, flexible sigmoidoscopy, colposcopy, and cryosurgery. Video observation and taping facilities are available. Our patients come from all walks of life and present with a wide variety of problems. Many have been coming to our practices for over three decades.
Our standard clinical clerkship consists of 70% office, 20% hospital, and 10% prenatal clinic and nursing home. However, the experience can be customized to meet your needs.
In your office you will manage patients just as you would in your own family medicine practice. Your responsibilities will include taking a history, conducting an appropriate physical examination, and generating a differential diagnosis and problem-oriented plan. The office preceptor, who is a board-certified family physician and usually one of our faculty, will serve as a consultant to you and assist you in modifying your plan as necessary. You will be responsible for communicating the plan to your patient and arranging follow-up.
In the hospital you will be a member of the family medicine inpatient team, which coordinates care for all of our practice patients who are hospitalized or in the emergency department. On any given day the team cares for laboring women, newborns and postpartum mothers, adult and pediatric inpatients, a variety of emergencies, and provides consultation to patients on surgical and psychiatric services. You will provide inpatient care under the supervision of the faculty attending and participate in teaching rounds and coordination of care between the hospital and the office.