There are multiple clinical rotations in the Department of Medicine including the clerkship, sub-internship, and inpatient and outpatient specialty electives. The Department of Medicine also offers several transition courses that prepare students for upcoming clinical experiences.
Rotations
The Internal Medicine Clerkship is a required eight-week rotation. Students will rotate through two or three different general internal medicine and specialty services where they will be supervised by attendings, fellows, residents, and interns. Students will rotate at two of the following hospitals: Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (PPMC), Philadelphia VA Medical Center (VAMC) or Pennsylvania Hospital (PAH).
The goals of the Internal Medicine Clerkship are to help students hone their history taking and physical exam skills, as well as provide opportunities to practice oral presentations and written documentation interpretation of diagnostic studies, clinical reasoning and problem solving, high value care, differential diagnosis, and patient management. Students participate in inter-professional teams and are expected to play an active role in patient care. Students participate in small-group learning that focuses on skill development.
The Internal Medicine Sub-Internship is a four-week inpatient rotation and fulfills the School of Medicine sub-internship requirement. This rotation is required for all students applying for internal medicine residency.
Students rotate on a general medicine service at one of the following hospitals: Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (PPMC), Philadelphia VA Medical Center (VAMC), or Pennsylvania Hospital (PAH). During this rotation, students assume the role of an intern with primary responsibility for up to six patients.
The goals of the rotation are to help students hone their history, physical exam, clinical problem solving, and patient management skills. Students are supervised closely by attendings and residents and are part of an inter-professional team.
The Department of Medicine provides outstanding elective experiences for third and fourth year medical students. There are many electives in the Department of Medicine. Some electives are inpatient focused, some outpatient focused and some have both inpatient and outpatient components. Most electives are four weeks but can also be taken for two weeks. Students applying for internal medicine residency are encouraged to take at least one four-week elective in internal medicine. Click here for a full list of elective course offerings.
Standardized patient experience (MED 240)
The standardized patient experience is a one and a half day elective that is designed to help students transition back to clinical rotations after a period of absence from clinical training (e.g. returning MD/PhD students). The goal of this course is to help students refresh skills in history taking, physical exam and written documentation. During this experience, students review the physical exam in small groups as well as practice two history and physical exams with standardized patients. Students are provided with laboratory data and have two days to prepare a patient note and oral presentation which they then meet with a preceptor to review.
Clinical skills course (MED 250)
The clinical skills course is a two-week elective experience designed to help students transition back to clinical rotations after a period of absence from clinical training (e.g. returning MD/PhD students). Students are assigned to an inpatient general medicine service at Pennsylvania Hospital (PAH), Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (PPMC) or the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania HUP. The goals of the rotation are to help students refresh core clinical skills such as history taking, physical examination, oral case presentations, written documentation, differential diagnosis, and clinical reasoning and problem solving through participation on an inpatient team. There is ample time for independent, self-directed learning to refresh fundamentals in knowledge.
Transition to general internal medicine internship
The Transition to Internal Medicine Internship course is a two-week capstone elective for graduating medical students preparing for Internal Medicine Residency. The course consists of interactive lectures, small group workshops, procedural training, virtual reality modules and high-fidelity simulations focused on communication skills, procedural comfort and high-yield clinical knowledge review. Students participate in workshops led by content experts from multiple Internal Medicine disciplines on topics including EKG review, antibiotics, radiology interpretation, and management of medical emergencies. Handoffs, calling consults, interprofessional communication, advanced care planning, obtaining formal consent, and the importance of wellness during training are reviewed. The capstone activity is a four hour high-fidelity simulation that recreates "The Day in the Life of an Intern," during which students receive pages regarding acute patient care issues, admit patients from the simulated emergency room, hold a family meeting and care for a clinically decompensating patient.
If you are interested in enrolling in an elective in the Department of Medicine, please visit the visiting student link on the Perelman School of Medicine website. – visiting students.