Primary Care

Catalog description

Students are assigned to an out-patient department, family medical clinic, or office practice, and work under supervision of licensed family medicine physicians and/or physician assistants and in conjunction with the health care team. This core rotation provides students with the opportunity to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to serve a diverse cross-section of the patient population, and to treat patients of all ages in an ambulatory care setting. Students learn psychosocial aspects of health care as well as how to provide family-oriented primary care services, such as acute and chronic disease management, health promotion, maintenance, patient education, and disease prevention. Students incrementally develop the ability to analyze and synthesize medical information, to reason independently, and to apply the concepts of medical decision-making and problem-solving to complex patient presentations. In addition, students are familiarized with the differences in the coordination, management, and follow-up of the outpatient as compared to the hospitalized patient, and with recognizing when to refer the patient for hospital admission. Students will be required to take a comprehensive exam upon completion of the rotation.