The Family and Community Medicine Year 3 Clerkship is designed to introduce students to the depth and breadth of family medicine, and the critical role it plays in the delivery of health care in the United States.  Students will be exposed to a wide variety of material, some seen in other clerkships and rotations, but in the context of the core overriding principle of family medicine, continuity of care.

The 11-week third year combined Medicine/Neurology Clerkship offers a variety of internal medicine and neurology clinical experiences.  Students will be assigned to either Borgess Medical Center or Bronson Methodist Hospital as their "home base" facility.  Students will immerse themselves ​with 1 week of ambulatory internal medicine, 2 weeks of WMed academic medicine, 2 weeks of hospitalist medicine, 1 week of nights, 1 week in a subspecialty (e.g. palliative care, cardiology or infectious disease) and each student will spend one week on the inpatient service for neurology at Bronson Methodist Hospital, Borgess Medical Center, or Bronson Battle Creek Hospital.  They will be a member of the team seeing consults and caring for the hospitalized patients with neurological issues.  During this week they also will be involved in the evaluation of acute infarcts/strokes.

Advances and Perspectives in Medicine and Health provides students in the professional health-related sciences both exposure to and an opportunity for involvement in current topics that influence the practice, quality, and delivery of health care. The course consists of a series of events that includes seminars, workshops, plays, demonstrations, simulations, and conferences that are distributed throughout the academic year. Topics covered in the series of events include ethics, professionalism, communication, health policy, health disparities, delivery of care, biomedical/translational/clinical/community-based research, bioengineering, business and legal aspects of health care, health informatics, and global health. For some events, there are opportunities to participate in interprofessional discussion groups that include students from other health profession programs, as well as health care professionals. Students develop critical thinking skills and raise awareness to cross-disciplinary aspects and integration of health care teams, through attendance and reflection of the events in this course.

The Women’s Health Year 3 Clerkship is intended to be a comprehensive, challenging, and rewarding experience addressing essential clinical aspects of obstetrics and gynecology.  The Preparatory Week includes a variety of activities to assure success during the subsequent clinical component.  The six-week Clinical Experience affords students a wide range of clinical opportunities to develop the requisite knowledge and skills in Women’s Health.  The Assessment Week, is designed to crystalize principles to accomplish oral and written components for evaluation.  The following components make up the Clinical Experience: 3 weeks of OB/Gyn Preceptorship, 1 week (6 days) of Maternal and Fetal Medicine (Bronson), 1 week (5 nights) Labor and Delivery (Night Float), and 1 week (5 days) Gynecologic Surgery and/or Gynecology. During the Clinical Experience weeks, students will be expected to complete Independent Study modules covering various topics relating to the particular clinical component.  The Summative and Assessment week is intended to review and synthesize essential clinical concepts, review and assess important clinical skills, and prepare for and successfully complete the NBME Shelf Exam.

The third year Core Pediatric and Adolescent Clerkship will provide the student with broad exposure to both the inpatient and ambulatory aspects of general pediatric care.  There are four components to the clerkship: Preparatory week, three weeks of ambulatory pediatrics, three weeks of in-patient pediatrics, and synthesis and assessment week.

Profession of Medicine is a series of seven courses that span all four years of medical school. These courses provide an integrated curriculum of health systems science and the art of medicine to ensure a competent and compassionate physician that serves patients, families, and society. The curriculum is coordinated with the biomedical sciences courses during Foundations of Medicine (years 1 and 2) and the third-year clerkships during Clinical Applications.

The four Profession of Medicine courses during Foundations of Medicine and the two Profession of Medicine courses during the third-year include a coordinated curriculum, Principles of Profession of Medicine, that includes all areas of health systems science, as well as additional components that provide a well-rounded undergraduate medical education. The components of Principles of Profession of Medicine include the following:

Medical Ethics and Humanities
Leadership
Scientific Method, and Clinical and Translational Research
Evidence-based Medicine
Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Science
Cultural Competence
Social Determinants of Health
Health Equity
Health Advocacy
Population Health
Preventive Medicine
Palliative Care
Law, Health Care Policy, and Health Care Financing
Biomedical Informatics
Health Literacy
Information Literacy
Complementary and Alternative MedicineIn addition, the four Profession of Medicine courses during Foundations of Medicine include two additional components, Clinical Skills and Active Citizenship in Community Health.

Clinical Skills teaches medical students interpersonal and communication skills, physical examination skills, simple procedures, and health record documentation, which provides a solid foundation for success in the third-year clerkships.
Active Citizenship in Community Health integrates structured learning with service learning activities to facilitate student participation. Service learning is an instructional technique in which students participate in a community service activity, in this case with academic objectives that are part of the Profession of Medicine courses. Students gain relevant, hands-on experience while improving the health of the communities we serve. The curriculum addresses social determinants of health, cultural competence, and preventive health.

The seventh Profession of Medicine course (PROF 9340) is a capstone review of medical ethics during the spring of the fourth year of medical school.

The four Profession of Medicine courses during Foundations of Medicine and the two Profession of Medicine courses during the third-year include a coordinated curriculum, Principles of Profession of Medicine, that includes all areas of health systems science, as well as additional components that provide a well-rounded undergraduate medical education. The components of Principles of Profession of Medicine include the following:

• Medical Ethics and Humanities
• Leadership
• Scientific Method, and Clinical and Translational Research
• Evidence-based Medicine
• Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Science
• Cultural Competence
• Social Determinants of Health
• Health Equity
• Health Advocacy
• Population Health
• Preventive Medicine
• Palliative Care
• Law, Health Care Policy, and Health Care Financing
• Biomedical Informatics
• Health Literacy
• Information Literacy
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine

In addition, the four Profession of Medicine courses during Foundations of Medicine include two additional components, Clinical Skills and Active Citizenship in Community Health.

• Clinical Skills teaches medical students interpersonal and communication skills, physical examination skills, simple procedures, and health record documentation, which provides a solid foundation for success in the third-year clerkships.
• Active Citizenship in Community Health integrates structured learning with service learning activities to facilitate student participation. Service learning is an instructional technique in which students participate in a community service activity, in this case with academic objectives that are part of the Profession of Medicine courses. Students gain relevant, hands-on experience while improving the health of the communities we serve. The curriculum addresses social determinants of health, cultural competence, and preventive health.

The seventh Profession of Medicine course (PROF 9340) is a capstone review of medical ethics during the spring of the fourth year of medical school.

The goals of the third year medical student clerkship in Psychiatry is designed to provide the student with a broad clinical experience. ​
The students will participate in clinical experiences in the inpatient unit at Borgess ​or the inpatient unit at the Battle Creek VA.

The third year core surgery clerkship will expose students to a variety of surgical experiences. The students will be assigned to the resident services at Bronson Methodist Hospital and Borgess Medical Center. They will be exposed to a variety of general surgery inpatient procedures and patients. The student will spend time on call to learn about management of emergent surgical diseases. Students will attend one breast clinic to learn about outpatient management and breast disease.
The students will be expected to attend academic surgical conferences and will have assigned readings. The summative evaluation will be composed of direct clinical observations by preceptors and residents, direct interaction with the Clerkship Director, a standardized patient and a bioskills portion. Upon the completion of the clerkship students should have a basic knowledge of many common surgical diseases and be comfortable knowing which patients need referral to a surgeon. The students should also be comfortable with sterile technique and basic suturing.