Clerkship

Four people working on a medical dummy

Years 3 and 4 of the MD Program are your clerkship years. You’ll receive your core hands-on teaching in hospital wards and medical clinics in Edmonton and communities in north-central Alberta.

In the clerkship years, you’ll apply knowledge of medical science from your studies in Years 1 and 2 to a clinical setting with patient assessment and care.

Clinical teaching includes classroom sessions taught by award-winning and experienced residents, allied health professionals and clinical preceptors.

For more information about Year 3 and 4 courses, please consult the University Calendar.

MD Program University Calendar 

Elective Catalogue Year 3 + 4

Curriculum Outline

Year 3 Clerkships

MED 528 – Optional Summer Elective

In this optional elective of variable length, you will develop a course plan in consultation with a faculty supervisor.

MED 531 – Longitudinal Themes III

This course bridges the first two years of medical school to the last two years. It includes Link block to help prepare you to apply your pre-clerkship knowledge and skills in a clerkship setting. Examples of learning events include the performance of clinical skills within a simulated clinical environment, approach to radiological problems, quality improvement, advanced care planning, clinical reasoning and anti-racism. Longitudinal Themes continue throughout the clerkship years with opportunities to participate in advanced communication skills and guided reflective practice in Physician Discussion Groups allowing you to develop self-reflection/metacognition, health advocacy, communication and professionalism skills.

MED 543 – Integrated Community Clerkship

A patient-centred, community clerkship based in select rural and regional Alberta communities. This course uses Family Medicine as the core of the clerkship experience to provide you with experience in continuity of care, handling undifferentiated problems, coordinating care for those with chronic disease and other key areas of family medicine and generalist specialties. 42 weeks will be spent in the rural community. The remainder of the second term will be a mix of electives.

More Information

You must apply for admission to this alternative Year 3 stream.

MED 547 – Clinical Electives

Elective opportunities for Year 3 medical students.

OBGYN 546 – Obstetrics + Gynecology

The six-week obstetrics and gynecology clerkship provides you with clinical experiences (in-patient and ambulatory) and formal small-group teaching sessions. You will work under the supervision of academic and clinical faculty members at four affiliated hospitals in the Edmonton area: Royal Alexandra Hospital, Grey Nuns Hospital, Misericordia Hospital and Sturgeon Community Hospital. You will spend three weeks at the tertiary centre (RAH) and three weeks at a community site.

PAED 546 – Pediatrics

PAED 546 is a mandatory eight-week internship in Year 3 of the MD Program. You will receive broad exposure to the discipline of pediatrics including clinical experiences in both the inpatient and outpatient general pediatric settings, a subspecialty experience and experiences in the NICU and Pediatric Emergency Department.

PSYCI 546 – Psychiatry

This six-week general adult psychiatry rotation is mandatory for Year 3 medical students. The clinical experience focuses on inpatient exposure with some exposure to outpatients, groups and crisis services (including emergency calls). The rotation is completed at one of five inpatient hospital sites (Grey Nuns, Alberta Hospital Edmonton, University of Alberta, Royal Alexandra and Misericordia). Additionally, opportunities exist for exposure to areas such as group therapy (Day and Evening Treatment Program), eating disorders, the Psychiatric Treatment Clinic (PTC), child and adolescent psychiatry, forensics, geriatrics, consult liaison and emergency psychiatry.

FMED 546 – Family Medicine

This eight-week rotation experience is normally divided into four weeks in a rural location and four weeks in an urban location. You will see a broad range of clinical presentations including a large number of undifferentiated clinical problems in a variety of clinical settings such as family physician offices, emergency departments, hospice units, hospital wards, outpatient clinics, long-term care facilities and patients’ homes. You will take an active part in managing these unique diagnostic challenges.

SURG 546 – General Surgery

This six-week rotation involves three weeks at a community hospital and three weeks at a level-one trauma hospital. You will be part of the surgery team and participate in clinics, consults in ER and wards and manage common perioperative issues. You will experience general surgery topics such as appendicitis, hernia, gallstones, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, IBD, anorectal problems, trauma, pre-op patient (for acute or elective surgery) and post-op patient with acute pain. It is a hands-on apprenticeship for common general surgical conditions that patients experience.

MED 546 – Medicine

This mandatory eight-week rotation provides the opportunity to assess, manage and follow patients presenting with a variety of internal medicine issues. It includes a call component to provide training in assessing and managing acute presentations of illness, regular small group teaching sessions at each of the sites and a clerkship-wide weekly academic half-day.

Year 4 Courses

MED 540 – Exams

The final comprehensive and practical exams for Year 4 medical students.

MED 541 – Longitudinal Themes IV /Transitions

This course builds upon the knowledge derived from the Longitudinal Themes I, II and III courses and occurs throughout Year 4 with opportunities to participate in advanced communication skills and guided reflective practice in Physician Discussion Groups to allow you to develop self-reflection/metacognition, health advocacy, communication and professionalism skills.

MED 555 – Geriatrics

This three-week clerkship focuses on the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and social aspects of illness in older adults. Attached to one of five base hospital sites in Edmonton (University of Alberta, Royal Alexandra, Glenrose, Misericordia or Grey Nuns), this clinical experience includes two weeks of inpatient service at the base hospital, with the remainder spent in the community. Community service comprises a mixture of clinics, emergency room liaisons, community day hospital programs (CHOICE), rehabilitation, successful seniors (SEESA) and care delivered at home (Home Living and Long Term Care).

MED 556 – Internal Medicine

This three-week clerkship focuses on consultative and ambulatory care. You will be assigned to one of multiple medicine subspecialties for the full rotation, with teaching sessions organized for you by each subspecialty. There is no call component for this clerkship.

MED 557 – Clinical Electives

Electives for Year 4 students registered in the MD Program.

MED 558 – Emergency Medicine

This four-week clerkship offers exposure to acute care management and critical care of patients initially presenting to the emergency department. You will build a foundation of initial management and stabilization skills to treat severely ill and injured patients and be exposed to numerous patient presentations and a wide variety of clinical diagnoses. You will work alongside numerous allied healthcare professionals in a coordinated team fashion, with additional educational experiences such as two simulation half-day weekly clinical lectures, a half-day high-yield session and departmental grand rounds.

SURG 556 – Specialty Surgery

This four-week clerkship builds on your knowledge of surgical principles and allows you to evaluate patients with common surgical problems encountered in primary care. You can choose from at least two of the following surgical subspecialties: cardiac, vascular, thoracic, plastics, urology, otolaryngology, neurosurgery and orthopaedic surgery. You will be exposed to clinic, operative, ward care and emergency room presentations of patients with surgical conditions. You will gain an appreciation for the collaborative and multidisciplinary nature of subspecialty surgery.

Grande Prairie Site

You will have the opportunity to complete your core Year 4 rotations in Grande Prairie.

You must apply for admission to this alternative Year 4 stream.

Grande Prairie Year 4 Clerkship

Integrated Community Clerkship

The Rural Integrated Community Clerkship (Rural ICC) is a core clerkship option for Year 3 medical students.

You will be placed in an Alberta rural community for approximately 42 weeks and provided with continuous patient care, preceptor supervision and learning experiences. The core experience is in regional family medicine practices.

The Office of Rural and Regional Health (ORRH) believes that the continuity of care found in the ICC program gives students several professional advantages, including:

  • The establishment of meaningful therapeutic relationships
  • Experience handling undifferentiated problems
  • Experience in co-coordinating the care of individuals with chronic diseases
  • Integrated assessment and management of the key illnesses seen in core disciplines of medicine

You must apply to participate in this alternative academic stream.

Questions

Phone: 780-248-1103
Email: iccume@ualberta.ca

Frequently Asked Questions

ICC Video Series

History of the Rural ICC

The Rural ICC was developed in collaboration with the University of Alberta and implemented in September 2007. The program is part of a worldwide movement of longitudinal integrated clerkships and has been implemented at six other Canadian medical schools.

Similar programs have also been applied across the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.

The Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry thanks the Health Workforce Action Plan for funding this program.

Contact Information

Year 3 Administrator
Laurie Logan
Email: ume.year3admin@ualberta.ca
Phone: 780-492-4119

Year 4 Administrator
Laurie Logan
Email: ume.year4admin@ualberta.ca
Phone: 780-492-4119

Administrator Electives
Norma Maloney
Email: electives@ualberta.ca
Phone: 780-492-6743