Predoctoral Curriculum

The four year UC Medical Curriculum has a pattern common to many medical schools. In Year One students develop a basic fund of knowledge in biophysical, psychosocial, and clinical sciences. They also have a small amount of patient exposure. In Year Two, they expand their fund of knowledge and increase their clinical training. Year Three is a clinical year with students learning to apply their fund of knowledge. In Year Four, mostly elective, students develop special interests.

The Department's predoctoral curriculum extends over all four years of student training. There are currently 104 hours of pre-clerkship contact with Department faculty. There is a four week full-time clerkship for the third-year class, which became a requirement for all students beginning July 1994.

Emphasis

The emphasis in all Departmental courses is on developing a knowledge base, clinical skills and attitudes appropriate for Family Medicine. For students to learn to deliver high quality medical care to families, they must master the knowledge and skills presented by other departments in the basic and clinical sciences. In addition, they must master aspects of medical care which are addressed most often by departments of Family Medicine. These include:

AMBULATORY CARE:
The curricula of the clinical Opportunities (Year One), the Homeless Health Care Clerkship (Year Two), and the Preceptorships in Family Medicine (Years Three and Four) emphasize ambulatory care as opposed to hospital-based care. This stands out in particular contrast in Year Three, where clinical experiences offered by all other clinical departments occur almost exclusively in medical center hospitals and concentrate on illnesses likely to be found in hospitalized patients. The emphasis on ambulatory care is also evident in the fourth-year electives: Geriatrics, Complementary Medicine, International Health, and the fourth-year clerkship.
These courses take place primarily in the offices of community family physicians. The didactics of Family Medicine courses emphasize common illnesses and core concepts of Family Medicine seen in ambulatorymedicine. The topics reflect the patterns of morbidity seen in ambulatory care. They also highlight other features of ambulatory care including management of patient problems by telephone, communication and rapport, chronic illness and compliance with the medical regimen.

PSYCHOSOCIAL SKILLS AND TOPICS
All Family medicine courses provide instruction in psychosocial skills. Courses in which this emphasis is especially prominent include Family Care Program, The Homeless Health Care Clerkship (Year Two), Clerkship in Family Medicine (Year Three), Complementary Medicine and the elective Preceptorship and Clerkships in Family Medicine (Year Four). This instruction is presented at the same time biomedical topics are presented on most occasions. This is intended to maintain a holistic approach to patient care and to avoid splitting biomedical and psychosocial approaches in the student's mind.

RELATED NON-CLINICAL AREAS
The Department is involved in courses in Year One dealing with the economics of health systems, community health and social service resources, principles of continuing medical education, and medical ethics. The Clerkship in Family Medicine (Year Three) features instruction in substance abuse and medical ethics in the family physician's office. The faculty are assigned to serve as mentors to specific students beginning in the student's second year and continuing through graduation.

Supplementary Educational Activity

Family Medicine has primary responsibility or is involved in courses that establish the framework for clinical work later in the curriculum. Introduction to Clinical Practice in Year One includes Death and Dying, Medical Interview, Human Sexuality, and Clinical Opportunities.

Several clinical courses in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years are supplemented by group and individual teaching. These include workshops, lectures, tutorials and seminars, focusing attention on specific aspects of Family Medicine encountered by family physicians and students in clinical medicine. These courses include Family Care Program and Homeless Health Care Clerkship in Year Two and the Clerkship in Family Medicine in Year Three. Year Four includes the Preceptorship in Family Medicine, Clerkship in Family Medicine Residency Program, Geriatrics and Complimentary Medicine.