Description

The Family Medicine elective is a subinternship that consists of two components and is designed to involve the fourth-year medical student as a first-year resident in the Department of Family Medicine.

Students spend two weeks of outpatient clinic care in the resident training clinic, Mayo Family Health Clinic-La Crosse. The student is partnered with a resident working from the resident's calendar. Students also spend two weeks on the Family Medicine Inpatient Service at the Mayo Clinic Franciscan Hospital in La Crosse. Family medicine residents and staff are assigned to this service. Medical students are expected to see patients assigned independently and work collaboratively with the residents and attending physicians to develop management plans for their patients.

Specific goals

1. Gain an understanding of family medicine in hospital inpatient and outpatient clinic care settings.
2. Observe how the practice of family medicine is integrated into the spectrum of care delivered by a large multispecialty institution.
3. Evaluate family medicine as a possible career choice.
4. Gain background information about the selection of a family medicine residency.
5. Develop definitive care plans in an outpatient and an inpatient setting.
6. Refine history taking, physical examination, as well as assessment and management skills.
7. Obtain introduction to practice management skills, in an outpatient and inpatient setting, with respect to clinic management, billing, coding, etc. 

Activity outline and expectations

• See and evaluate each patient assigned to their "clinic" day. Perform appropriately focused histories and examinations; formulate possible diagnoses, assessments, and plans; work with the assigned resident; and present each case to the preceptor for the day to finalize diagnostic and treatment regimen.
• Discuss coding and documentation procedures with the preceptor on each patient seen during the day.
• Attend multidisciplinary and focused residency team daily rounds with the resident team and family medicine staff on the inpatient service.
• Complete comprehensive history and physical examinations on patients admitted.
• Formulate comprehensive assessments, differential diagnosis and treatment plans for each patient admitted to the hospital service.
• Present patients each morning on rounds, as well as follow the patient through the entire course of care.
• Attend all applicable conferences and resident seminars while on inpatient or outpatient services.

Method of evaluation

Students are evaluated by the faculty and residents as a team, both in the hospital and outpatient clinical care settings.

Per Mayo Clinic institutional policy, faculty and residents/fellows will not complete any outside evaluations. You will be provided with an electronic performance evaluation via Mayo Clinic’s MedHub portal. A final summative evaluation will be sent to you and your school official upon completion of your clerkship.