Visiting Student Elective Scholarship Program (VSESP)

Thank you for your interest in our program. We are very excited to announce that we will resume hosting visiting students and the VSESP starting August, 2 2021. Please apply for the elective via VSAS in addition to your VSESP application.

 

Overview 

Our Visiting Student Elective is a 4-week clerkship designed for 4th year medical students who intend to pursue a career in emergency medicine (EM).  The elective is offered from June through December each year.  

The Scholarship program funded through the generous donations of Emergency Medicine faculty members provides a $2,500 stipend to visiting students to support travel and housing during the elective.

Students will work exclusively at the UVM Medical Center Emergency Department (UVMMC ED) in Burlington, Vermont.  This is the primary site for the new UVMMC EM Residency, and sees approximately 60,000 (adult and pediatric) patients per year.  

During the elective, students will work approximately 16 clinical shifts (distributed over days, evenings and overnights, pediatric evening shifts, including 2 weekends).

Students participate in weekly didactics on Thursdays from 12-5pm, including the EM grand rounds, point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) rounds, and simulation training.  Students will become part of our ED family on their month and join our residents and faculty to attend an evening journal club dinner at an attending’s home. 

For each clinical shift, students will be paired one-on-one with a UVM faculty member. Students will work directly with EM faculty (medical students only present patients to faculty -- they do not present to residents). Students consistently rate our course highly given this one-on-one teaching! Students rotating have ample opportunities to participate in many procedures within the scope of EM.

Our Ultrasound faculty are internationally renowned, and work directly with each group of students, both on shifts and in the simulation lab.  Students will gain hands-on experience with POCUS with talented teachers and other common Ultrasound guided EM procedure.

Medical Students and Resident

Mentorship

Students will benefit from working alongside our dynamic faculty who come from a broad range of backgrounds and have unique academic interests. Mentorship and advising opportunities include a question and answer session with our Program Director, case-based teaching from our Associate Program Director, and mentorship from faculty with diverse subspecialty training and interests including: 

  • Point-of-Care Ultrasound
  • Pediatric EM
  • Global Health
  • Toxicology
  • Research
  • Rural Medicine
  • EMS
  • Wilderness Medicine
  • Medical Education
  • Simulation
  • Informatics
  • Emergency Neurology
  • Sports Medicine
  • Critical Care

Feedback and Evaluations

Students will receive feedback from their attending after every shift, with goals set for each subsequent shift. Students will be evaluated based on clinical performance, participation in didactics, and specific feedback from attending faculty regarding attitude and approach to learning.  The SAEM exam at the end of the clerkship will also be factored into the student’s final grade.  A Standardized Letter of Evaluation (SLOE) will be completed for all our visiting students and will be a committee letter written and signed by the Clerkship Directors, the Program Director, and the Associate Program Director.  Grades for purposes of the SLOE will be Honors, High Pass, Pass, and Fail.  Grades for transcript purposes will be based on each student’s home institution grade options. 

Eligibility

  • Full-time fourth year medical student in good standing at a LCME-accredited US medical school. 
  • Apply for a rotation through the Visiting Student Learning Opportunities program (formerly known as VSAS). This application process includes submission of a CV and one letter of recommendation from a faculty member at your medical school.
  • In addition, email Debbie McDonald, the clerkship coordinator, (1) a letter of interest (In 500 words or less, describe how your experience as an underrepresented student in medicine has shaped your path to pursue a career in emergency medicine), and (2) describe how you identify as one or more of the Larner College of Medicine’s diversity categories (such as Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American, Pacific Islander, or low socioeconomic status).


Information for visiting students. 

Sponsored by the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Larner College of Medicine and the Emergency Medicine faculty at the University of Vermont Medical Center

 

Aims to:

  • Increase awareness of training and career opportunities in academic emergency medicine.
  • Encourage students from diverse backgrounds to apply to the University of Vermont Medical Center’s EM residency program.
  • Provide mentorship and networking for fourth-year medical students underrepresented in medicine such as racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ-identified or gender nonconforming individuals, individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, and those with special needs.

Course Dates

Rotation dates follow the Larner College of Medicine academic calendar. 

  • May 30 - June 24, 2022
  • July 4 - July 29, 2022
  • August 1 - August 26, 2022
  • September 5 - September 30, 2022
  • October 3 - October 28, 2022
  • October 31 - November 25, 2022
  • November 28 - December 23, 2022

Clerkship Directors

Clerkship Director:  Sarah Schlein, MD

EM Clerkship Coordinator

Debbie McDonald 
802-847-0629