FMMD 300 - Principles and Practice of Family Medicine

[152 Hours]

This required clerkship provides third-year students with an introduction to the principles of Family Medicine as practiced in a community-based ambulatory setting or in a residency program. The student is assigned to a clinical faculty member (also known as a preceptor) within the state and may live in that community. He or she spends most of the four weeks working directly in office-based patient care under the supervision of the preceptor. During this rotation, the student has the opportunity to see patients of all ages as they present with any of the broad range of medical problems seen by family physicians. It will be significantly different from most other clinical rotations that are part of the junior year in medical school. For one thing it is primarily in the outpatient setting, rather than hospital-based; therefore, the type of medical problems that students will see and the dynamics of health-care delivery will be different. Patients will present with common problems, chronic problems, and undifferentiated problems. Any and all of these may have easily treated biomedical etiologies, have psychosocial dimensions, or be the first symptom of serious illness. Students will see patients that the doctor has known for years or ones coming in for the first time. They will see the doctor caring for whole families—sometimes over several generations. In addition, students will be able to appreciate the interactions of a family physician with other specialists, support staff, ancillary health-care providers, and a variety of community resources. Because the practice of Family Medicine differs from that of hospital-based, tertiary care, this clerkship has something unique to offer regardless of career choice. Students will be afforded an in-depth view of ambulatory care and the manner in which family physicians practice. Teaching activities include faculty-conducted presentations and clinical encounters including a musculoskeletal workshop, supplemented by recommended readings. Evaluation is based on the demonstration of clinical skills as observed by clinical teachers, successful completion of an evidence-based class project, and satisfactory performance on the Subject Examination in Family Medicine of the National Board of Medical Examiners. Students may choose the site of their clerkship from a number of options that include urban, suburban, and rural communities across the state. Practices in under-served areas, both rural and urban, are included as possible sites.