Clinical Semesters
The second major component of the medical curriculum consists of over two years of supervised hands-on clinical training at the bedside on in-patient units, in outpatient clinics and in communities throughout the state. As a complement to the preclinical semesters, the clinical years involve a series of clerkships taken by students in a sequence that is progressively determined by individual students according to theircareer aspirations. Clinical training begins in January of the second year and extends until graduation.
Students must complete 1 week of skills training prior to the start of the clinical clerkships (Transition to Clerkships) followed by 44 weeks of Core clerkships. Students then complete a minimum of 10 weeks of selectives, 8 weeks of Intensive Care Unit and Sub-Intersnship clerkships, and 32 weeks of electives.
The primary goals of clinical training are to provide students with:
- a breadth of clinical exposure across numerous clinical disciplines;
- advanced exposure in the discipline(s) of the student’s choice;
- acquisition and mastery of a fund of general medical knowledge that builds on the principles introduced during the first 18 months;
- and competency in a broad array of clinical skills. These clinical skills range from patient and interprofessional interactions, exemplified by history-taking and performance of the physical examination, through attitudes — compassion, interest, independence, ethics — to the manual dexterity inherent in sterile technique, phlebotomy, suturing and other procedures uniquely associated with the medical profession.