Medical Student Education

Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship

About the Program

A 12-month Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC) will launch in 2017-18 for the Class of 2019, beginning at the same time as the traditional clerkships. Students will be placed in primary care practices in two UVM affiliates: Hudson Headwaters Health Network, headquartered at Queensbury, New York, and Eastern Maine Health System, headquartered in Bangor Maine. The curriculum at the regional campuses will have the same core educational objectives, course requirements and similar instructional and evaluation methods as students completing their course work in the traditional block clerkships. The major difference is that students in the regional campus sites will meet the objectives of each clerkship in a longitudinal manner rather than in the traditional block schedule.

Students embedded in primary care clinics will participate in providing comprehensive care to their patients, including wellness, acute care, and chronic care. They will work with interprofessional teams of physicians, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, and mental health workers in the emergency room, the hospital, subacute rehabilitation centers, hospice, and home care. In addition students will demonstrate developmental competencies essential for a primary care curriculum.

Students selected for this curriculum will be in good academic standing, have an interest in rural medicine, enjoy autonomy, will have the maturity to work independently, display resiliency, have an interest in the participating in the community, and an interest collaborating with faculty to improve the student experience.

• VIEW a sample LIC schedule
• FAQ's about the LIC
• QUIZ: Is an LIC right for me?
  

In addition to Clerkship Competencies, students participating in the LIC will also develop another skill set with the following competencies:

• Demonstrate the principles of patient advocacy as they follow the course of illness over time for a defined panel of patients;
• Apply a broad and holistic perspective to patient's problems, by caring for patients with undifferentiated illness;
  
• Participate in effective models of care coordination by participation in multidisciplinary teams;
  
• Employ advanced communication skills by learning to engage patients in shared decision making;
  
• Demonstrate knowledge of the use of practice systems to triage, treat and follow up on medical visits;
  
• Describe the Chronic Care Model as they demonstrate the appropriate diagnostic approach to chronic illness;
• Apply screening tools, and life style counseling to advance wellness and prevention;
• Demonstrate principles of disease management in common psychiatric conditions in the ambulatory setting;
• Participate in a systems improvement project by describing the relationship of health care systems to patient well‐being;
• Engage in patient‐centered problem solving with other professionals;
• Perform a community‐specific health promotion project.