Curriculum

Medicine 4

Rotation Requirements in Med 4

Med IV is composed of eight one-month rotations taken throughout an eleven month calendar (July thru May). It is divided as follows:

4 DOC selectives
4 Electives

DOC's

The Differentiation of Care (DOC) selectives prepare students for the spectrum of care they will provide as physicians, regardless of their specialty. Each selective focuses on the care of patients at various stages-from the patients without a diagnosis through the patient requiring chronic care. In each four-week DOC, students will be able to select from several clinical clerkships depending on their interests and resources that are available. With the exception of the DOC-4 (Subinternship), most clerkships are offered in ambulatory settings. Completion of all four clerkships is required to graduate.

DOC-1: In this selective, the setting is the hospital emergency department. Experiences will facilitate the acquisition of basic life support skills, differentiation and treatment of common acute problems, and the assessment of the undifferentiated patient.
DOC-2/ACC-2: In this selective, emphasis on specific common ambulatory problems in adults will be explored. In addition, this month is intended to serve as an introduction to self-directed learning techniques which each physician must develop and maintain to retain competence throughout his or her career in medicine, and to use evidence-based medicine in everyday decision making in the medical office environment.
DOC-3: In this selective, the Patient with Chronic Care Needs, the emphasis shifts from focusing on a diagnosis or disease to the entire spectrum of needs of a patient requiring chronic care. The focus of care is the maintenance of function and the maximization of quality of care over time. In addition to medical requirements, social, psychological, caregiver and ethical issues will be examined as well as accessing community and ancillary resources including home heath care. Students may choose among various patient population groups such as pediatric, geriatric, HIV patients, hospice patients, diabetes patients, and transplant patients.
DOC-4: This selective will provide students with a clinical inpatient experience similar to that of an intern. This will allow a transitional experience from medical school to residency. Call responsibilities and patient care responsibilities will approach those of an intern on the same inpatient service. The student will have close supervision by faculty and senior house staff. The DOC-4 patient is the patient hospitalized for acute care needs.

Electives

Students will be able to select from a variety of one-month electives. Electives are available in the Departments of: Anatomy, Anesthesiology, Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Neurology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Orthopaedics, Otolaryngology, Pathology, Pediatrics, Public Health, Physical Medicine, Psychology, Radiology, and Surgery. Away electives within the United States and International Away electives are available. See Med III/IV Coordinator for details.

Completion of four electives are required in addition to all four clerkships to graduate.

Away and Elective Forms and Information

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Please see the Office of Global Health Education website for information regarding global health electives.