Foundations, Clinical Clerkships, and Advanced Integration | Office of Medical Education | The University of Vermont(title)

The educational program comprises: Level 1 (Foundations), Level Two (Clinical Clerkships), and Level 3 (Advanced Integration). Students are assessed in cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains in all courses, with an emphasis on formative evaluation and frequent feedback.
Students taking part of a workshop for Foundations

Level 1: Foundations

The foundation of the educational program features the development of fundamental science knowledge and clinical skills in a clinically relevant context. Initial courses in the fundamentals of medical science are followed by a series of organ system-based courses.

Foundation Highlights

Leadership Development

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  • Professionalism, Communication & Reflection- encourages professional development through collaborative group learning activities linking personal experience, cultural awareness, leadership topics, and concurrent VIC course content.

Clinical Skills

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  • Doctoring in Vermont - allows students travel to a community preceptor's office and practice examination and interviewing skills under direct supervision.

Community Engagement

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  • Public Health Projects -are carried out in Vermont communities and enable students to apply the principles and science of public health to these needs in the community.
Students listening to a physician during pediatrics clerkship rounds

Level 2: Clinical Clerkship

Clinical clerkships are hands-on training that occur during the latter years of medical school. During this level, students move from the classroom to a hospital setting and begin treating patients under the supervision of physicians.

Clerkship Highlights

The Block Clerkship

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  • Emphasizes the basic principles of clinical medicine, including primary and preventive care, while building clinical skills for students through daily care of patients within different medical specialties in both ambulatory and hospital environments.

  • Takes place over a 12‐month period and includes practical exposure to several clinical areas: Surgery, Inpatient and Outpatient Internal Medicine, Neurology, Psychiatry, Family Medicine, Pediatrics, and Obstetrics & Gynecology.  

 

Bridge Clerkship

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  • Leadership Development -the Bridge Clerkship offers weeks of professional development in between Block Clerkship specialties, which supports professional growth and extend the learning of Foundations competencies into clinical applications and decision- making.
  • Bridge content includes: Patient Safety; Evidence-based Medicine; Simulation; Palliative Care; Global Health; Complementary & Alternative Medicine; Pharmacology; Nutrition; Genetics; Professionalism; Communication & Reflection II; and Health Care Finance. 

 

Clinical Sites

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  • Offers diverse clinical settings with traditional block clerkships within the UVM Health Network and the CT Clinical Branch Campus. Both campus environments blend the best of traditional academic medical centers with community health care. Larner College of Medicine faculty supervise all clerkships. See Clinical Sites for details. 
Fourth year medical student on their emergency medicine rotation working with a patient in the UVM Emergency Department.

Level 3: Advanced Integration

Level 3 provides students with additional responsibilities for patient care, including two acting internships, a surgical subspecialty rotation, and clinical and/or non-clinical electives. Students also fulfill a requirement for scholarly work in teaching or research.

Advanced Integration Highlights

Additional Time for Career Exploration

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  • Early board exams allow more time to explore different clinical rotations before making the decision to focus on a specialty.

Teaching and Research

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  •  Provide students with basic skills in teaching and evaluation in a "coached" environment, to revisit foundation sciences by teaching or scholarly activity, and to reinforce longitudinal integration in the VIC by revisiting foundation sciences with clinical perspectives.

More Information

Advanced Integration Guides
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Resources for Level 3
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