Third Year

Third Year Core Clerkship: Family Medicine

The Family Medicine Clerkship is a required four-week rotation. Students are placed in a community or residency site and become an integral part of the health care team.

The clerkship emphasizes strengthening competencies in history taking, physical examination skills, problem differentiation, disease prevention and management, written and oral presentations. In applying these skills, students develop an understanding of the concept of a medical home in patient care: comprehensive, patient-centered, longitudinal primary care.

Working one-on-one with family physicians, students will integrate knowledge of the basic sciences with the biopsychosocial factors that critically impact a patient’s experience of illness and health in the care of the patient.

Preventive Medicine: The Science of Health and Healing Curriculum

Medical student burnout and high levels of distress during medical school have been well-documented, and there is a growing recognition of the need for preventive- medicine based curriculum in medical education with a focus on health and healing. In response to this need, the third-year family medicine clerkship at many institutions, including the University of Cincinnati, has developed an integrated preventive medicine curriculum to promote self-care and prepare students for patient encounters where wellness and lifestyle practices are discussed.

The purpose of the curriculum is to equip students with tools and strategies to promote their own well-being and resilience, while also enabling them to engage in meaningful conversations with patients about health, healing and lifestyle practices.

The integrated preventive medicine curriculum includes a range of activities, such as debriefing on challenging clinical cases, nutrition and integrative medicine content, and a health and healing workshop. Through these activities, medical students learn to recognize the importance of self-care and develop practical tools for managing stress and promoting well-being. By integrating preventive medicine into the clerkship curriculum, medical students are better prepared to manage the demands of medical school and navigate the challenges of clinical practice. They are also better equipped to provide holistic care to patients that addresses not only their medical needs, but also their well-being and lifestyle practices.