Overview, Year 1 Clerkship, Year 2 Clerkship, Year 3 Clerkship, Year 4 Clerkship, Contact

Pre-doctoral Student Education

The Department of Family and Community Medicine contributes to the medical student's education across the 4-year training curriculum.

Ruth Stewart, MD Clerkship Director

During the first year, students participate in a clinical shadowing experience at one of the Family Medicine ambulatory clinics.

The department offers a clinical preceptorship during the second year, where students gain experience completing histories and physicals. Additionally, the Family and Community Violence lecture series is integrated into the curriculum during the sophomore year. Clerkships are required in the junior and senior years where students participate in supervised patient care in both office and hospital settings. Many electives are also provided.

Role-modeling is a critical component in the medical student's professional development. Through early engagement with faculty and resident teachers, students are exposed to the various roles of the family physician. Additionally, students are encouraged to participate in the student-directed Family Medicine Interest Group (FMIG), to engage in further education, skill training, and mentoring activities related to the specialty. These various experiences help to shape outstanding future leaders in Family Medicine.

Below are detailed descriptions of the first and second year clerkships, and full curricula for the third and fourth years.

Overview, Year 1 Clerkship, Year 2 Clerkship, Year 3 Clerkship, Year 4 Clerkship, Contact

1st Year Clerkship

Clinical Shadowing

Medical students participate in a clinical shadowing experience in their first year at a Family Medicine ambulatory clinic. Through this experience, students witness the family physician in the many roles often portrayed: as a primary point of contact, as confidant and advisor, as the gatekeeper of shared-care referrals, and as provider for many chronic conditions. Students are not expected to actively participate in the patient care experience, but are encouraged to ask questions about the events witnessed. At the end of the experience, a summary of feedback and findings is accumulated by all the students and turned in to their coordinator.

Center of Excellence

The School of Medicine sponsors a Summer Preceptorship Program for freshmen medical students who are in good academic standing. This is an 8 week stipend program supported by the Center of Excellence (COE) grant. During this program, students are introduced to the provision of health care for the underserved in ambulatory settings.
Students will be introduced to Healthy People 2020 guidelines, gain experience with patient care encounters, assist in Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) projects, and be exposed to practice management opportunities. Upon conclusion of the program, students will give presentations on areas of focus touched on during the course of the preceptorship experience.

Overview, Year 1 Clerkship, Year 2 Clerkship, Year 3 Clerkship, Year 4 Clerkship, Contact

2nd Year Clerkship

Clinical Preceptorship

Medical students participate in clinical preceptorship sessions during their sophomore year. They are assigned to a particular specialty for a total of 5 afternoon sessions. The overall objective is for students to complete a minimum of 3 patient histories and physicals during the sessions. The Department of Family & Community Medicine provides preceptorship opportunities at both of the ambulatory care centers and in the inpatient service environment. After the students gather the required information, the assignments are given to the preceptor for evaluation and feedback. This clinical preceptorship is a requirement of the Principles and Practice in Medicine (PPM) portion of the basic science curriculum.

The Family & Community Violence Lecture Series

This lecture series is provided to second year medical students. The goal of the course is to foster the knowledge, attitudes and skills of medical students about the role of the physician in the prevention, assessment and intervention of violence across the life cycle.
A range of topics is presented covering violence directed towards self (e.g., suicide), Family members (e.g., child abuse) and others in the community (e.g., youth violence).

Overview, Year 1 Clerkship, Year 2 Clerkship, Year 3 Clerkship, Year 4 Clerkship, Contact

3rd Year Clerkship Curriculum

Students participate in supervised patient care in office and hospital settings under the supervision of family practitioners.
Additionally they attend a series of lectures and workshops all designed to demonstrate a family medicine approach to common clinical problems.

Overview, Year 1 Clerkship, Year 2 Clerkship, Year 3 Clerkship, Year 4 Clerkship, Contact

4th Year Clerkship Curriculum

Course Description: Students participate in supervised patient care in urban, rural and underserved community-based clinics. In addition to primary care, students are introduced to the long term care and management of patients. For more information, please visit TN AHEC.

Overview, Year 1Clerkship, Year 2 Clerkship, Year 3 Clerkship, Year 4 Clerkship, Contact

 

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Overview, Year 1 Clerkship, Year 2 Clerkship, Year 3 Clerkship, Year 4 Clerkship, Contact

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