MD Curriculum

• Part 1: Med 1 and Med 2

  Family medicine faculty teach in the Longitudinal Groups' curriculum to first-year and second-year students. In addition, LSI students participate in Longitudinal Practice (LP) sessions one half-day every other week across Part 1 of LSI. Family medicine faculty and practices are increasingly involved in teaching this preceptorship and important to its success.

  Students participate in Career Exploration weeks during Part 1 of the curriculum. Career exploration weeks are meant to introduce students to the various medical specialties early on in their medical school curriculum. Family Medicine faculty, staff, and residents provide information and experiences during Career Exploration Weeks. First and second year medical students can learn more about the family medicine specialty by attending lectures or workshops facilitated by family medicine faculty. Outside of the defined required curriculum and Career Exploration Weeks our department offers additional opportunities via meetings, dinners, workshops and activities to help students learn more about family medicine.

• Part 2: Med 3

  Nearly 200 third year medical students complete the required four-week adult ambulatory rotation as part of the Understanding Patients within Populations (UPWP) ring in the Lead.Serve.Inspire (LSI) curriculum. The UPWP ring is a 16-week experience involving the Departments of Family Medicine and Pediatrics with other departments offering two-week selective clinical experiences within the ring.

  The first week of the ring referred to as Groundschool offers various workshops, large group didactics and small group experiences. The students then participate in 14 weeks of clinical experiences within family medicine, pediatrics and various selectives. While on clinical rotations, small groups led by family medicine and pediatric facilitators meet each Tuesday afternoon.

  The final week of the ring consists of assessments including specialty shelf examinations, Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE), and a practical examination. Many family medicine faculty serve as small group facilitation leaders and participate in Groundschool presentations. The Department of Family Medicine offers a wide variety of practices for the four-week ambulatory experiences including the department’s two residency practices, along with rural, urban, suburban and inner city sites.

• Part 3: Med 4

  This fourth year of medical school is a key transition year from medical school to their chosen field of study in residency. Student’s fourth year experiences in Family Medicine are a more in-depth and specialized look at primary care and family medicine. These experiences include the required course Advanced Management in Relationship-Centered Care, clinical electives, advanced competencies, and participation in the Family Medicine Clinical Track. Students have the opportunity to experience practices in rural, urban and suburban Columbus and across the country.

• Fourth Year Clinical Track in Family Medicine

  The Clinical Track in Family Medicine is designed to ensure that students interested in Family Medicine Residency are well prepared to excel in the internship year. The ACGME has prepared a list of milestones (competencies) that each resident will be evaluated and expected to complete during the residency.  The successful completion of the Clinical Track in Family Medicine will help each student achieve a level 1 or higher in the ACGME milestones.

• Family Medicine Advanced Competency Electives

  Advanced Competency in Integrative Medicine
  Students learn philosophies, fundamentals, and therapies of Integrative Medicine and begin to further develop and describe possibilities for an integrative care plan for patients with a variety of diseases/conditions, take time to address, develop, and practice self-care, and extend and explore their learning via projects, research or more in-depth learning. For information about integrative medicine visit their website here.

  Hotspotting (Not offered for the 2021-22 academic year)
  The course focuses on training in hot spotting then each interdisciplinary team will meet regularly to discuss each patient’s health conditions, status, and needs and to develop a regular home, shelter, or other residence visit schedule. Team members will accompany patients to medical appointments as necessary. If a patient is eligible to apply for any social services, team members will facilitate this and accompany their patient as applicable. Medication lists and schedules will be developed with each patient so they can take them more readily without confusion. Case reports of the patient interviews, medical visits, social services, ER visits, and hospitalizations will be prepared by the team.

• Family Medicine Elective Courses

  Family Medicine Advanced Clinical Skills
  This course is designed to prepare fourth year medical students to enter a residency program in family medicine specialty. During this course students will spend time approximately half of their time in the clinical setting and the other half in educational learning activities. During the clinical experience, students will work individually with team members in a PCMH certified clinic with a physician, nurse practitioner, dietitian, PharmD/diabetic educator, care coordinator and social worker on a rotating schedule. For the learning activities, there will be small group meetings or workshops three times weekly. There will also be time for independent study, reflection and completion of e-learning modules. 

  Family Medicine Research Elective
  This course is designed for students interested in participating and learning more about research in a primary care setting through the department of family and community medicine.

  Family Medicine Sports Medicine
  This Family Medicine elective is designed to introduce students to the care of the physically active individual (competitive or recreational athlete). The basic principles involved include: the physical, psychological, and emotional demands on an athlete and the impact of the physician in these areas. This includes the roles and responsibilities of a team physician, the utilization of a team approach to the care of athletes and the methods of optimizing the talents of the members of the medial team to benefit the athlete. Students will interact with physicians, athletic trainers, exercise physiologists, and other health care providers. For information visit the Sports Medicine website here.

• Visiting Medical Students

  Limited visiting medical student rotations are available for qualified medical students who have completed a core clerkship in family medicine at their home institution. Students interested in rotating in the department of family and community medicine should visit the OSU College of Medicine’s website for more information.

  Learn more

  Learn more about our Underrepresented Minority Visiting Student Program