Curriculum Overview

Students are assigned to a core clerkship site for their clinical training. The core curriculum for the third year includes Psychiatry, Internal Medicine (2), Obstetrics/Gynecology, General Surgery, Pediatrics, Family Medicine and Rural Health. The remainder of the year is designated for elective clerkships for students to personalize their clinical training. The fourth-year curriculum is intended to build on the foundational experience provided in the third year. These experiences are in settings where more demands for independence can be expected of the senior medical student. Students will complete clerkships in Emergency Medicine and Hospice/Palliative Care. Numerous electives allow students to travel to locations that offer them the opportunity to develop residency training applications for a successful transition to graduate medical education. Learn more about the clinical clerkships below.

3rd Year

4th Year

Four weeks focusing on the evaluation, intervention, and management of the psychiatric patient. Emphasis is placed on the medical student learning the triage and community integration of treatment models, treating the patient in the setting close to home rather than the inpatient psychiatric hospital. This month will offer the integration of the psychiatric treatment model with the goal of community treatment and placement for the mentally ill patient.

Internal Medicine I: Four weeks of training in clinic and hospital settings leading to a foundational understanding of general medical problems in the adult male and female patients. This precedes and represents a requirement for Internal Medicine II.

Internal Medicine II: Four weeks of training with the same objectives as IM I. Increases the consolidation of educational goals by providing continuity of environment and faculty found in IM I.

Four weeks of training in the inpatient or outpatient setting to obtain acceptable competency for a medical student in the care of medical and surgical issues related to the female genitourinary system. This will include the evaluation and care of the pregnant patient for prenatal, delivery and post-natal period.

Four weeks of training in the hospital setting under the supervision of a hospital-based general surgeon(s). This will include the evaluation, surgical intervention, consultation, and follow-up of the adult male and female population.

Four weeks of clinical training in the outpatient and/or inpatient setting. The student will learn to take an appropriate history for male and female patients from birth to adulthood. Emphasis will be placed on preventive health management for evaluation of growth milestones, as well as immunization strategies. Identification of the acutely ill patient will be integrated into the experience.

Four weeks of training with a family physician students will work with a family physician in order to gain a more complete perspective of the uniqueness of family medicine and further their learning of clinical knowledge and skill sets necessary to practice medicine in a variety of outpatient and inpatient settings.

Four weeks of training providing a unique combination of OPP training in both a standardized and clinical setting as well as training in a family rural health clinic.  Concurrent with this training, students will also serve in a near- peer teacher role to first- and second-year students in OPP lectures, OPP labs, and the clinic.  Students are expected to learn and refine skills necessary to integrate OMT into daily clinical practice.  They will also begin their role as both mentor and lifelong learner/teacher essential for lifelong success as a physician.

Students must complete at least one core clerkship rotation with a DO preceptor. Students must complete at least one core clerkship rotation imbedded within a residency program. Students must get clinical experiences within an inpatient setting during at least two of their core clerkship rotations.

Electives may be completed in any discipline, with any licensed practicing physician approved by the Division of Clinical Sciences and are not required to be completed with a member of the ACOM clinical faculty. For more information about electives with specialized didactics, please refer to the “Additional Options for Elective Clerkship Rotations” section of the Clerkship Rotation Manual.

Four weeks of training with a prerequisite of successful completion of the entire third year of training prior to entry. Students will be educated in the initial evaluation and stabilization of the acutely ill or traumatized patient. Education of the triage process at the entry into the Emergency Department is included in the experience.

Four weeks of training designed to provide students with a comprehensive experience in both “End-of-Life” Care and the most current modalities of symptom control / management.  Students will experience being a part of a treatment team caring for individual patients and families anticipating and managing a spectrum of issues in anticipation of life’s end.  This will include experience in dealing with social, psychological, and spiritual distress in terminally ill patients.  The palliative care components will include: management of pain, anxiety, insomnia, nausea & vomiting, anorexia, constipation, pruritus, cough, dyspnea, and delirium. Students are also invited and encouraged to reflect upon end-of-life issues for themselves and their families and achieve increasing comfort in their discourse.

Electives may be completed in any discipline, with any licensed practicing physician approved by the Division of Clinical Sciences and are not required to be completed with a member of the ACOM clinical faculty. For more information about electives with specialized didactics, please refer to the “Additional Options for Elective Clerkship Rotations” section of the Clerkship Rotation Manual.

Pathway to Residency

This curriculum is designed to help students navigate the complex process of choosing a specialty and prepare for the next phase of their medical education.  Lectures and assignments are designed to assist students in their preparation for completing residency applications and refine their interviewing skills.  This curriculum will help students maintain a competitive advantage to increase match success.

Core Site Didactics

Each clinical training site offers didactic sessions students are expected to attend and participate in as assigned.

Osteopathic Principles & Practice Focus

Each core clerkship rotation includes clinically relevant osteopathic activities, and each clinical training site is provided with OPP tables for student use. Students are expected to use their osteopathic training during all aspects of patient encounters as indicated.