Method

The internal medicine core clerkship at the University of Utah, required of all students in the third year, is a 12-week course divided into two six-week periods; one is taken in each semester. Typically, 25 students (roughly one fourth of each third-year medical school class) are in the course at any time. The first nine weeks are spent in a traditional inpatient setting. Students are assigned to one of three hospitals: the University Hospital, a Veterans Affairs Health Center, or a community hospital. In general, a ward team at each site includes two third-year students, two interns (PGY1, rotating by the calendar month), one resident (PGY2 or PGY3, rotating by four-week intervals), and an attending physician (rotating by three-week intervals). In all, there are 13 teams, 11 of which are considered general medicine. Though some students also rotate on two subspecialty teams (cardiology and hematology—oncology), each student has at least six weeks of inpatient general medicine by the end of nine weeks. If his or her performance at this point is satisfactory (ie, at least at the “reporter” level), the student advances to the three-week ambulatory portion of the clerkship, which concludes his or her clinical assignments for the clerkship.