University of Southern California (Keck School of Medicine)

YEAR I-II The first year of the Year I-II continuum begins with 19 weeks of Core Principles of Health and Disease, followed by 49 weeks of organ system review, ending with a nine-week Integrated Case Study section. There is an eight-week summer break between the first and second years. Students also take Introduction to Clinical Medicine and the Patient. Each week of the academic year is composed of approximately 20 hours of lecture and small groups sessions with an additional 20 hours of independent directed study or Introduction to Clinical Medicine and the Patient. Examinations in all systems throughout the first two years are graded Pass/Fail. Dean's recognition is awarded on the basis of year-end comprehensive examinations and special projects. COURSES : * Core Principles of Health and Disease : This 19-week introductory system provides the student with the fundamental knowledge necessary for the integrated study of the basic and clinical sciences in the ten human organ systems which follow. Included in this section are the following major themes: cell structure and function; the human organism; disease and the body's responses; prevention and treatment of disease, including evidenced-based medicine; and introduction to clinical medicine and the patient. This section is taught in an integrated fashion and includes the use of clinical case studies. * Gross Anatomy : Cadaver dissection remains a unique teaching tool by which the three dimensional organization of the human body is studied. Gross anatomy will begin in the Core Principles of Health and Disease system continuing in the Hematology/Clinical Immunology system with the dissection of the body wall and major body cavities followed by head and neck dissection in the Neurosciences system and ending with limbs dissection during the Musculoskeletal system. Continued study of gross anatomy by use of prosected anatomical specimens as well as computer programs, selected review lectures, etc., continues throughout the integrated organ systems. * Introduction to Clinical Medicine and the Patient (ICM): ICM expresses the strongly patient-centered orientation of the medical school curriculum. The student is introduced to patients and is involved in patient care activities from day one. Students are introduced to the principles of patient care and management and examine what it means to be a physician and how one becomes a physician. The major content areas of the course include communication in the setting of illness, the unified concept of health and disease (the biopsychosocial model), basic clinical skills and the correlation of basic science with clinical medicine. ICM emphasizes the systematic acquisition of the clinical skills of interviewing, history taking, physical examination, elementary clinical problem solving, and medical record keeping. Throughout the Year I-II continuum, the ICM clinical skills curriculum is integrated with basic science instruction. Students can therefore learn and apply basic science knowledge in the clinical setting. By encouraging a thorough understanding of the direct applications of basic science research to modern clinical medicine, instructors motivate the student to learn, use and retain more of the content and concepts presented in the basic science portions of the curriculum. A group of five or six students spends from four to eight hours each week with an instructor from the clinical faculty who remains with the group for one to two years. As the group deals with basic medical themes (death, pain and helplessness) and issues (patient responsibility, learning to live with ambiguity and uncertainty), instructors help students to cope with their own feelings. This format opens the door for student-faculty interaction and improvement of student-faculty communication. Instructors encourage students to take advantage of the learning experiences provided by their roles as helping and therapeutic persons. Students develop their ability to communicate with patients in the setting of illness and are guided by patient concerns to enhance their own growing knowledge, skills, abilities and responsibilities. Students are expected to acquire skills and habits of self-education and self-instruction which will prepare them for lifelong learning. The unified concept of health and disease presented in this course enables the student to comprehend the human organism in all its complexity. Using their clinical experiences as a teaching model, students are taught to consider the patient as an integrated whole and to view the patient's illness or disease as more than simply a disruption of physiologic processes or a collection of physical findings. Additional learning experiences occur through workshops and focus experiences. ICM workshops provide standardized instruction in history taking and physical examination, as well as integrated instruction in areas which cross disciplines. These include physician well being, substance abuse, domestic violence, and ethics. Through focus experiences, students are encouraged to explore a variety of practice environments as well as community based health and social services. For example, students may visit outpatient clinical settings, a geriatrics long term care facility, a hospice care facility, or homeless services organizations. * Organ System Review : A sequence of study presenting integrated basic and clinical science instruction involving ten human organ systems, Hematology/Clinical Immunology, Neurosciences, Musculoskeletal, Cardiovascular, Renal, Respiratory, Endocrine/Metabolism, Reproduction, Gastrointestinal/Liver, Skin follows Core Principles of Health and Disease. * Integrated Case Study : This section completes the second year of the Year I-II continuum and will emphasize patient-centered problems, which integrate the basic and clinical science presented in the preceding organ systems. Students will explore the multi-organ effects of disease processes and reinforce diagnostic reasoning skills. In addition, concepts of pathophysiology, evaluation, and management that can be applied to any organ system will be included. This section will also reinforce the appropriate use of medical information resources, effective self-directed learning skills, and interpersonal and group communication skills. Separate review sessions of the important basic science and clinical concepts covered during the previous two years also occur during this seven-week section. These sessions will assist students in preparing to take the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 examination. By early spring of the second year of the Year I-II continuum, students are expected to select their academic clinical advisors and to begin arranging for the schedule of clerkships to be taken during the Junior/Senior continuum. By the end of the fall semester, Year II, each student receives information which describes the curriculum requirements of the Junior/Senior continuum. Students choose the area of medical practice which they are most likely to pursue and an advisor is assigned from that discipline. The advisor counsels the student on clerkships and opportunities in graduate medical education. YEAR III-IV Continuum (two calendar years) The final two years of medical school are designed as a continuum of two calendar years, beginning in July at the end of Year II. During the spring of their second year, students schedule clerkship rotations to be taken during the two years of the continuum. Each student's program is individually designed with the assistance of faculty advisors and includes 50 weeks of required clerkships, 16 weeks of selective clerkships and 16 weeks of elective clerkships. All degree candidates are required to take and pass Step I of the United States Medical Licensing Examination and prior to entering the junior/senior continuum and take Step II of the USMLE as a graduation requirement. During the continuum each student may schedule 16 weeks of vacation for personal convenience, remedial work, funded research work and other non-curricular activities, such as investigating postgraduate training programs. Although every effort is made to provide flexibility in the scheduling of each student's program, some inherent limitations are imposed by the maximum enrollment permitted for each clerkship. Students are a vital part of the university's medical team, which provides health care for patients throughout the year, vacations are therefore subject to some scheduling adjustments. REQUIRED CLERKSHIPS : - Family Medicine (6 weeks) - General Surgery/Specialty Surgery (12 weeks) - Medicine 1 (6 weeks) - Medicine 11 (4 weeks) - Neurology (4 weeks) - Obstetrics and Gynecology (6 weeks) - Pediatrics (6 weeks) - Psychiatry (6 weeks) SELECTIVE CLERKSHIPS Students are required to schedule 16 weeks of selective clerkships, chosen from a list of four or six week clerkships approved by the Clinical Curriculum Committee. Selective clerkships are carried out at USC affiliated hospitals and encompass virtually all specialty areas. ELECTIVE CLERKSHIP The elective period consists of 16 weeks, during which electives may be taken on campus, at USC affiliated hospitals or at more distant medical schools or medical centers. Approved on campus electives which are offered regularly are listed in the elective catalogue. Proposals for other on campus and off campus electives are reviewed individually by a committee composed of faculty members and students. All petitions must be submitted at least six weeks before the beginning of the rotation. Off campus electives require documentation from the off campus preceptor, endorsement of the student's medical school advisor, and prior approval and review by the Clinical Curriculum Committee. Credit is not given for electives until an evaluation has been received from the preceptor and a critique of the elective submitted by the student. Students with an academic deficiency may not schedule off campus electives. � Fifth Year Research Option: USC offers students the opportunity to take a full year of research experience with either a Keck School of Medicine faculty mentor or an approved faculty mentor at another institution. This program is open to any student in good to excellent academic standing who has completed his or her first year of medical school. Students interested in the option should identify a faculty preceptor and present a description of the proposed research program and funds available in support of the program to the associate dean for curriculum. A stipend, comparable to that received by a graduate student at the postgraduate level, is available. Application for this program is made through the Office for Curriculum (KAM 314) and will be supervised through the Office of the Associate Dean for Student Affairs (KAM 100E).

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School name: University of Southern California (Keck School of Medicine)
Address: 1975 Zonal Avenue
Zip & city: CA 90089-9034 Los Angeles
Phone: 323-442-1900
Web: http://www.usc.edu/schools/medicine/ksom.html

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