The purpose of the rotation is to give students an exposure to emergency medicine. Emergency medicine is a complaint-based specialty, so each student’s experience will be unique; however, the unifying feature is that the student will have the opportunity to develop the skills needed to evaluate the undifferentiated patient.

The student will function as a sub-intern in the emergency department with responsibility for the initial evaluation of patients. Students will learn to obtain a history, perform a physical examination, develop a differential diagnosis, treatment plan and disposition. The student will learn how to assess patients quickly and begin treatment without having a solid diagnosis.

Students will also be exposed to the social aspects of medicine: forming relationships with patients and families; exposure to social ills, such as homelessness and violence; and dealing with the limitations of medicine — uninsured patients and patients with chronic diseases who are noncompliant.

*For students who are participating in the Rural Health Professions Program Certificate of Distinction, you may experience part/all of your clerkship in a rural community.