The clinical sciences curriculum consists of 72 weeks of clinical training in the inpatient and outpatient settings. It is divided into 48 weeks of core rotations taught in the 3rd year and 24 weeks of elective rotations taught in the 4th year. Student must pass step 1 before commencing core rotations. After finishing core rotations students are qualified to take the USMLE Step 2 examinations. Student must pass Step 2 before starting the elective rotations.
The clinical sciences curriculum is designed to train the students to function effectively in a clinical setting. Students participate in patient care while rotating through various medical specialties in various clinical settings. Training includes patient history taking, physical examination, laboratory analysis, differential diagnosis, constructing effective management plan, case presentations, clinical workshops and conferences.
CORE 1 – INTERNAL MEDICINE
Duration: 12 weeks
Prerequisite: USMLE Step-1 pass
Exam format: MCQ Exam, Preceptor Clinical Evaluation
PURPOSE: Internal Medicine is an inpatient and outpatient service experience in which students will apply concepts of diagnosis and management to hospitalized and ambulatory patients. Experiences will focus on areas traditionally identified and related to internal medicine; for example, the pathophysiology of non-surgical diseases, and the application of non-surgical diagnostic and therapeutic techniques. Internal Medicine experiences will take place primarily on general medical/surgical floors and specialty units. Any outpatient experiences will be designed to provide students with an understanding of routine care performed in the physician’s office/clinic, and will be at the discretion of theAttending/Preceptor.
GOALS: Goals for this rotation include students being ableto evaluate, diagnose, and treat patients for a variety of medical problems in hospital and ambulatorysettings, to develop increased ability in diagnostic problem solving of medicaldisorders, to develop specific motor skills in techniques and procedures commonly related to the hospitalized medicalpatient, and to recognize the psychosocial needs of the patient.
CORE 2 – SURGERY
Duration: 12 weeks
Prerequisite: USMLE Step-1 pass
Exam format: MCQ Exam, Preceptor Clinical Evaluation
PURPOSE: Surgery is primarily an inpatient service experience where students will learn to recognize and assist in the treatment of disease during which surgery may play a role in a patient’s treatment and recovery. Students will learn basic surgical procedures, asepsis, correct handling of tissue, and technical skills to assist the surgeon in the operating room. Students will assist in pre-and post-operative care to learn various surgical treatments and to recognize potential risks associated with respectivetreatments.
GOALS: Goals for this rotation include students being ableto evaluate, diagnose, and treat patients with problems requiring surgical intervention. How to care for the patient in the immediate post-operativeperiod. How to recognize post-operative complications needing further surgicalcare. Cost/risk/benefit, as it applies to patientcare. Comprehend and apply specific surgical protocol in the operating room, i.e., scrubbing, gowning, gloving, draping, and prepping. Develop specific motor skills utilized insurgery.
CORE 3 – FAMILY MEDICINE
Duration: 6 weeks
Prerequisite: USMLE Step-1 pass
Exam format: MCQ Exam, Preceptor Clinical Evaluation
PURPOSE: Family Medicine provides students with the opportunity to begin acquiring an understanding of the unique role of the family practitioner, and the basic knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to care for patients of all ages. Students will gain these abilities by engaging in structured learning activities — both outpatient andinpatient.These will represent a core of behaviors encompassed by the family physician, which prepare him/her for a unique role in patient management, problem-solving counseling, and coordination of health care for the individual and for the family unit. Students will be required to take call, attend conferences, and read suggestedliterature.
GOALS: Goals of the rotation include students being ableto understand how patients enter the health care delivery system, as well as progress throughit.Demonstrate an approach to the patient as a whole person, and provide personal care for individuals and families, as the physician of firstcontact.Demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of the unique, continuous, comprehensive approach to health care delivery by the primary care physician with patients and theirfamilies.Be familiar with basic diagnoses and management of diseases, and conditions commonly presented by families in the primary caresetting.Use skills in applying the biopsychosocial approach in diagnosing and managing patients with diseases and conditions commonly presented in the primary caresetting.Explain the family systems model of patientcare. Recognize the value of the physician’s role and responsibilities in disease prevention, health promotion, and patient education.
CORE 4 – OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY
Duration: 6 weeks
Prerequisite: USMLE Step-1 pass
Exam format: MCQ Exam, Preceptor Clinical Evaluation
PURPOSE: Obstetrics and Gynecology is predominately an inpatient clinical experience. Related outpatient clinical experiences will be periodically integrated into the rotation to provide students with an understanding of routine OB/GYN care performed in the physician’s office. The outpatient experiences may be met in a clinic or a preceptor’s office. Students will be required to take call, attend conferences, and read suggested literature. Students will perform selected technical skills necessary to provide ante-partum care, post-partum care, and pre- and post-op care of gyne-surgical patients. They will practice skills and techniques to do normal, uncomplicated deliveries and will participate in the management of more complex problems in obstetrics. Emphasis will be placed on pelvic exams and identifying pathology. Attention will be directed to the psychosocial impact of pregnancy and gynecologic disease on the female patient and the familyunit.
GOALS: Goals of the rotation include students being ableto evaluate the various stages of labor in the pregnantpatient and to evaluate, diagnose, and treat the complications ofpregnancy.Develop specific motor skills and aptitudes relative to the delivery of an infant and care of the newborn in the deliveryroom.Evaluate and manage the post-partumpatient.Evaluate, diagnose, and treat a variety of gynecologic problems within the hospital and ambulatorysettings.
CORE 5 – PEDIATRICS
Duration: 6 weeks
Prerequisite: USMLE Step-1 pass
Exam format: MCQ Exam, Preceptor Clinical Evaluation Form
PURPOSE: The Pediatric clerkship addresses issues unique to childhood and adolescence by focusing on human developmental biology, and by emphasizing the impact of family, community, and society on child health and well-being. Additionally, the clerkship focuses on the impact of disease and its treatment on the developing human, and emphasizes growth and development, principles of health supervision, and recognition of common health problems. The role of the pediatrician in prevention of disease and injury, and the importance of collaboration between the pediatrician and other health professionals, is stressed. As one of the core clerkships during the third year of medical school, Pediatrics shares with Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Psychiatry, and Surgery, the common responsibility to teach the knowledge, skills, and attitudes basic to the development of a competent generalphysician.
GOALS: The goals of this rotation are toendorse acquisition of basic knowledge of growth and development (physical, physiological, and psychosocial), and of its clinical application, from birth throughadolescence.Development of communication skills that will facilitate the clinical interaction with children, adolescents, and their families, and thus ensure that complete, accurate data isobtained.Development of competency in the physical examination of infants, children, and adolescents.Acquisition of the knowledge necessary for the diagnosis and initialmanagement of common acute and chronicillnesses.An understanding of the influence of family, community, and society on the child in health anddisease.Development of strategies for health promotion, as well as disease and injury prevention.
CORE 6 – PSYCHIATRY
Duration: 6 weeks
Prerequisite: USMLE Step-1 pass
Exam format: MCQ Exam, Preceptor Clinical Evaluation
PURPOSE: Throughout the clerkship program, students are expected to participate in didactic conferences, case presentations, and specifically, to learn the diagnostic criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. On the in-patient services, the student should have a responsibility for patient care under close supervision of physicians. That should include a full evaluation; students should take part in deciding appropriate treatment and testing. Students are encouraged to discuss their opinions with theirinstructors.
GOALS: The goals of the Psychiatric Clerkship are to teach the students a scientific way of making a differential diagnosis and prescribing treatment. The students should learn that a mental illness, like other illnesses, can be treated andcontrolled. In order to achieve the said goal, the students are expected to learnto conduct a psychiatric evaluation with a mental statusexamination, formulate a broad differentialdiagnosis, plan a treatment and management ofpatients, have a familiarity with major psychiatric medications and their sideeffects, recognize medical conditions which may exacerbate a psychiatriccondition, and recognize the problem of chemical dependency and its role in mentalillness.
ELECTIVE ROTATIONS
A minimum of 24 weeks of elective rotations must be completed. All students must complete 6weeks of an emergency medicine. Highly recommended electives include:
The list of some clinical sites where our students can get training are below.
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