VCOM College Catalog and Student Handbook

Osteopathic Medical School -Year Four

The fourth year is an exciting time where students may direct much of their clinical rotations to areas of interest or areas where they wish to improve their knowledge and skills. VCOM has attempted to provide students with the maximum amount of flexibility to schedule rotations that will enhance their medical education and meet residency interests. Students in the OMS 4 year complete 4 weeks of Professional Development, 1 four-week rotation in Emergency Medicine, 1 four-week Medical Selective, 1 four-week Surgical Selective, 1 four-week Intensive Medical Selective, 1 four-week Medical or Surgical Selective, and 5 four-week Electives. Three of the four selectives and the required Emergency Medicine rotation in the OMS 4 year must be completed at a VCOM core clinical site. The options available within VCOM core clinical sites for OMS 4 students are broader than those offered during the OMS 3 year. Students may request approval to complete one of the four selectives outside of a VCOM core clinical site if they wish to participate in a rotation at a site with a specific GME program and the Associate Dean determines the rotation is appropriate. In addition, if a student is planning to apply to an EM residency and needs to use the required EM rotation as an audition, they may do so outside of the core site with AD approval. OMS 4 students are allowed up to five electives at locations other than VCOM core sites. The curriculum in the fourth year is divided into two semesters, each 22 weeks in length. Full-time enrollment during the OMS 4 year is defined as being enrolled in a minimum of 12 hours per semester and is required of all students. Students will be made aware of the start date through the published academic calendar on an annual basis. Students cannot begin the fourth year prior to the first day of the fourth year as published in the academic calendar. HPSP students should work with their Associate Dean to accommodate their commitments. VCOM provides students with a list of selective and elective rotations to choose from (see lists below) and students may choose based upon their area of interest or may choose an area in which they wish to improve their knowledge and skills. However, students may not take more than 4, four-week rotations (or sixteen weeks) in any one specialty rotation. Students should vary their experiences by choosing different rotational experiences within a specialty. For example, instead of choosing 5 months of Pediatrics, a student may choose NICU or Adolescent Medicine as one of their months or instead of choosing 5 months of OB/GYN a student may choose Gyn/Oncology or Maternal/Fetal Medicine as one of the 5 months. Students may repeat one rotation in the OMS 4 year with a preceptor that they rotated with in the OMS 3 year. Students may not rotate with the same preceptor more than once in the same academic year. Additionally, students may not rotate with a preceptor who is a family member or with whom they have a personal relationship since the preceptor must objectively evaluate the performance of the student and must avoid the impact of conflicts of interest in the operation of the medical education program. It is expected that students will notify Clinical Affairs of any pre-existing relationships well in advance of the rotation. Elective rotations serve three primary purposes: career development, residency auditions, and expanding clinical knowledge. VCOM recommends four-week rotations for all electives but recognizes that some sites offer only two-week options. While VCOM does not endorse two-week clinical experiences, it permits them when residency sites provide only two-week rotations. Because it is challenging for students to learn a hospital system and demonstrate competitiveness in just two weeks, VCOM strongly recommends four-week rotations at any residency program a student is seriously considering, when a four-week option is available. The list of approved electives is provided later in this section. Online syllabi for the most common selective and electives, developed by the Clinical Chairs across all campuses, are provided on the VCOM website to direct the student’s focus of study for each selective and elective rotation to assure students can identify the appropriate core objectives to be learned while on their 4 th year clinical rotations.

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