Georgetown University (School of Medicine)

FIRST AND SECOND YEARS The curriculum for the first two years of medical school has several distinguishing hallmarks: * Both departmental and interdisciplinary courses that emphasize normal and altered human structure and function. * Courses that collectively constitute a broad based introduction to patient care, including "Introduction to the Patient," "Ambulatory Care," "Physical Diagnosis," and "Problem-Solving." * Problem-based learning modules - for example, in gross anatomy -- designed to convey fundamental, basic biomedical knowledge in the context of clinical problems. * Parts One and Two of a four-part, longitudinal curriculum in clinical ethics, with the first part focused on the theme of moral agency and second on the principal ethical dilemmas encountered in the practice of medicine (e.g., problems concerning privacy and confidentiality, informed consent and refusal of treatment, withholding and withdrawing therapy, etc.). * A course of in "Religious Traditions in Health Care," which uses clinical cases to illustrate how patients and healers in different faith traditions confront the problems of human health and disease." Departmental courses provide the student with the scientific knowledge basic to the practice of contemporary medicine for example, knowledge traditionally organized under the rubrics of anatomy (gross and micro), biochemistry, physiology, neurobiology, microbiology, pathology, and pharmacology. The underlying "logic" of the curriculum leads the student from the initial study of the basic anatomic and chemical characteristics of the normal body, through a survey of the dynamic properties that regulate and participate in the function of the normal body, to the study of the changes that are produced by diseases, drugs and other agents. The Departments of Cell Biology and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology present the gross and microscopic structure and the chemical functions of the human body by means of lectures, demonstrations, dissection laboratory, teaching aids and problem-based learning exercises. In such courses as "Physiology" and "Neurobiology," students analyze and learn about the principal, dynamic functions of the body, as well as the organismic substrate of the mind, the brain and central nervous system. First-year courses are particularly concerned with how bodily organs interact and with the ways in which this interaction comprises the total human organism. Finally, in the first year, students are introduced to the care of patients (via a course emphasizing the skill of history-taking entitled Introduction to the Patient and a course in ambulatory care); the fundamental principles and theories of clinical ethics; the broader demographic and policy dimensions of the American health care system and the role of spirituality in the experience of health and illness as well as in the physician-patient relationship. A focus of the second year is the study of disease processes, especially those caused by microbes; the body's own immunological defenses against microbes, as well as other pathological agents; and the principles governing the action of pharmacological agents, their major uses and their consequences. In addition, students continue their introduction to clinical practice through ambulatory care experiences and through a course in physical diagnosis. They also continue their study of clinical ethics by analyzing "classic cases" illustrative of the application of key theories and principles. Finally, in three blocks of curricular time, students take an interdepartmental course called Clinical Problem Solving, which also serves to continue the introduction to patient care and provide a bridge between the basic science emphasis of the preclinical curriculum and the clinical emphasis of the third and fourth years. Elective courses supplement the preceding required components of the first and second year. The student may use electives to pursue in greater depth some aspect of medicine introduced in the courses or to obtain selected special knowledge not covered in the courses. Electives are chosen in advanced basic sciences, behavioral sciences, clinical sciences, ethics, economics, sociology, demography, community medicine or research. Some may be taken from faculty on Georgetown's Main Campus. THIRD AND FOURTH YEARS The third year contains 48 weeks divided into four blocks, each being 12 weeks in duration. During this year, the student serves clinical clerkships in the major specialties as follows: Medicine, 12 weeks; Surgery, 12 weeks; Pediatrics and Obstetrics/Gynecology, six weeks each; Neurology, Psychiatry and Family Medicine, four weeks each. These clerkships are conducted by clinical departments at the Medical Center and its affiliates. During this time, the student receives intensive instruction in the acquisition and interpretation of patient-based data and begins to share responsibility for patient care. The fourth year contains 44 weeks of instructional time and provides the student with substantial, but supervised responsibility in the clinical management of patients. Patient experience is gained during six weeks on the medical and surgical services as an acting intern, 12 weeks on a primary/ambulatory rotation that includes Emergency Medicine, and a selection of two other four-week rotations. The fourth year also provides, to the maximum extent possible, programs designed to meet the individual needs and desires of each student. Accordingly, Georgetown offers a large number of approved electives, and the student has substantial freedom in choosing the service and hospital in which s/he must spend 20 weeks devoted to the elective programs. Continuing the theme of integrating basic and clinical sciences, the fourth-year curriculum includes a required program offered by the Department of Pharmacology, and many of the basic sciences offer other electives. INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS To complete requirements for graduation, a student must complete 20 weeks of elective time. Many students choose to fulfill this requirement by taking electives abroad through Georgetown's International Programs. Available to fourth-year students, these programs provide participants with experience in medical-care delivery in a developing-nation setting. The Office of International Programs currently sponsors programs in Latin America, Europe, and Africa. For fourth-year students fluent in Spanish, several four- to eight-week international rotations are available in Community and Family Medicine. Locations include Cuernevaca, Mexico; Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Quito, Ecuador. On the European continent, students can participate in a variety of electives in both Ireland and the United Kingdom through our relationship with institutions, such as Trinity College, Dublin; National University, Galway, and the Royal Brompton National Heart and Lung Institute. Six- to eight-week electives are also available to students at the Nyumbani Orphanage in Kenya, Africa, and the Banso Baptist Hospital in Cameroon, Africa.

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School name: Georgetown University (School of Medicine)
Address: 3900 Reservoir Road, N.W.
Zip & city: DC 20007 Washington
Phone: 202-687-0100
Web: http://som.georgetown.edu

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