October 13, 2010

Third and Fourth Years Await!

Things certainly are progressing quickly at the UCF College of Medicine.
Our class of 2014 (current freshman) just completed their first module, and our charter class of 2013 (sophomores) just finished their second. In April, the M-2 students are scheduled to take their Step 1, USMLE exam and shortly will begin to schedule their core clerkships, which begin in May.
In this Pep Talk, I want to briefly describe the third and fourth years at the college, list the clerkship directors and let you know that we will be asking soon for information on electives you may want to provide to our students.
The College of Medicine now has 1,346 volunteer/affiliated faculty members and I want to thank all of you who have helped us interview applicants, develop and teach the first- and second-year curriculum and especially want to recognize our hospital partners for their support in creating core clerkships. Most of these clerkships will be conducted at Orlando Health, Inc. and Florida Hospital sites. As the Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) and Nemours Children’s Hospital are completed at Lake Nona’s “medical city,” some clerkships will also be expanded to those locations. Psychiatry in particular will be using the VAMC along with Lakeside Behavioral Health and Pasadena Villa.
Clerkships play an important role in educating young physicians. Students rotate through a set of required core clerkships in Internal and Family Medicine, General Surgery, Neurology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics and Psychiatry. During the General Surgery clerkship, students also participate in three two-week blocks during which they choose a number of surgical or other specialty areas, from vascular surgery to ophthalmology.

Required Third-Year Core Clerkships Weeks
Internal and Family Medicine 12
General Surgery and Surgical and Other Selectives 12
Neurology 6
Obstetrics and Gynecology 6
Pediatrics 6
Psychiatry 6
Our Clerkship Directors are:

• Internal/Family Medicine – Maria Cannarozzi, M.D. mcannarozzi@mail.ucf.edu
• General Surgery – Matthew Lube, M.D. matthew.lube@orlandohealth.com
• Neurology – Garrett Riggs, M.D., Ph.D. ghriggs@mail.ucf.edu
• Obstetrics-Gynecology – Lori Boardman, M.D. lboardma@mail.ucf.edu
• Pediatrics – Colleen Moran-Bano, M.D. cmoran@mail.ucf.edu
• Psychiatry – Martin Klapheke, M.D. klapheke@mail.ucf.edu
• Emergency Medicine – Jay Ladde, M.D. jladde@hotmail.com

As part of their clerkship training, all third-year students will return to the College of Medicine every six weeks for lectures and small group discussions on topics that incorporate basic and clinical sciences as well as longitudinal curricular themes such as ethics, patient safety and gender-based medicine. The third year culminates with the Capstone Experience, a required, one-week course designed to help students integrate their clerkship experiences into guiding principles of patient care.
During the third year, students will have two Objective Structured Clinical Exams. The first test is a formative assessment taken at mid-year; the second is a summative exam that students must pass to continue into the fourth year.

During the fourth year, students must complete training in:
• Emergency Medicine
• Critical Care
• Acting Internship in Internal Medicine or Surgery
• Acting Internship in any core area (Family Medicine, General Surgery, Internal Medicine, Neurology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics and Psychiatry)

This training must be done at UCF College of Medicine-affiliated hospitals. In addition, students must complete four electives either in Central Florida or at approved extramural institutions. No more than three electives may be taken in the same core area.

As I indicated earlier, we are now seeking volunteer faculty who wish to provide electives for our students. We will be asking for information from your medical practice, including the goals and objectives of the elective, when we might schedule the training, the number of patients in your practice and how many students can participate at one time. We would also like to identify electives that can be taken for only one or two weeks.

I know many of you remember the 2009 White Coat ceremony, where we welcomed our charter class to the field of patient care. In May 2013 these same students will be graduating and going on to GME Programs. Thanks to your efforts, these students will have become the next generation of skilled, caring health-care leaders.

Best regards,

Dick ‘PEP’ Peppler, Ph.D.

P.S. You may have noticed a change in Pep Talk’s frequency. I have decided to produce this newsletter every three or four months so I don’t overload your in-box. During some of the months you don’t receive Pep Talk, we’ll send you COMQuarterly, an overview of College of Medicine news. Please enjoy.