1. Rural Training Track (Click here to open & close description.)
       If you want to learn more about Rural Training Track, click here for Quick Form,
       where you can check off the Rural Training Track Opportunities box. 
       Please Click here for a Program Brochure that includes a response form.
      
      Cooperative Extension Helps Student Gain Valuable Experience in East KY
      Community [press release 04/07/2004]
     
      Solutions for Rural Physician Shortage [press release February 2004]
    

   1. In 2003, the Department of Family & Community Medicine received a HRSA grant with the purpose of creating a rural track within the current curricular structure.  The program is meant for students with an interest in practicing in rural settings. Several studies have identified that students most likely to choose a rural practice knew this even before they began medical school. In Kentucky, 77 counties were designated as partial or whole health profession shortage areas in October 2001. The rural curriculum encourages and enhances students’ rural understandings by offering more experiences for medical training in rural areas. In the end we hope to increase the number of UK graduates choosing rural practice. The first class to have the choice of the rural track will be the Class of 2007, with topics related to rural health and issues being integrated into their curriculum in the Fall of 2003. In student's third year, a combined (three month) rotation which encompasses all three of the outpatient primary care rotations completely located in a rural area. This experience will provide motivated students with a three-month longitudinal experience of living and working in a rural area. By the fourth year, an acting internship selective is available which builds on the students' prior rural experience and skills. 

1. Research (Click here to open & close description.)

   1. 
      UKCOM Summer Research Opportunities: UK College of Medicine has traditionally sponsored a Summer Research Fellowship Program for medical students. Through this program, students can obtain research experience that is not presently available within their required curriculum. The program has proven to be an excellent opportunity to involve selected students with faculty conducting state of the art research. The experience is usually offered for 5-8 weeks, with the students generally earning $250-290 per week, depending on the source of funding. Department faculty throughout UKCOM are made aware of the opportunity to have student researchers from the office of Academic Affairs. Please contact UKCOM Academic Affairs each Summer for further information. NOTE: Due to the nature of projects, specific research opportunities within the Department of Family Practice & Community Medicine may not always be available as it is based not only on funding issues, but the projects themselves as well. However, if you have a particular research project in mind and would like a faculty mentor from the Department of Family Practice & Community Medicine, please submit information here Shari Levy (phone: 859-257-2826).

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   3. Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship
      The Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship (CRF) Program, established in 2000, is designed to encourage medical students to pursue careers in clinical research by giving exceptional students the opportunity to take a year to experience clinical research first hand."

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1. Workshops (Click here to open & close description.)

   1. In collaboration with the student leaders of the Family Medicine Interest Group (FMIG), we are pleased to offer workshops on any number of topics that are of interest to students. In the past, we have offered workshops on suturing and doing IVs (two of the most popular ones). In the future, our chief residents will work closely with the student leaders in the FMIG to organize and offer workshops on these topics or any number of other topics identified by students. Please contact your student leaders of the FMIG and/or watch for announcements from this student group.

• Mentoring (Click here to open & close description.)

  1. Faculty and residents within the Department of Family & Community Medicine offer themselves to be mentors to students interested in primary care and/or family medicine. Several of our faculty are leaders of student-directed groups like the UKCOM "Osler Groups". If you are interested in having faculty and/or a resident mentor, please submit your request and/or contact Shari Levy (phone: 859-257-2826). Please be sure to indicate if you already have particular faculty/resident in mind and/or if you already have interests (like women's health, rural medicine, international health, sports medicine, etc.). Please also be sure to include a brief bio about yourself which will be shared with our faculty/residents.   If you are a pre-med or non-UKCOM student interested in mentoring or shadowing, please check with UK-Hospital Volunteer services for guidelines/requirements and also check with the UKCOM Alumni office as they coordinate with COM alumni opportunities for student/physician mentorships through an interactive website.  You can find out more by going here:

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1. Intensive Study of Spanish: First & Second Year Students (Summer)
        (Click here to open & close description.)

   1. The Department of Family & Community Medicine has been able to offer a special summer program for medical students:  “Intensive Study of Spanish”. It is usually a three week program in the summer months (available only for 1st and 2nd year students). This opportunity is held in conjunction with one of the many institutes found in Morelia, Mexico. Students who are selected to go, will have the opportunity to study Spanish in small groups of around seven students each.  Students are paired into these groups at his or her individual level of learning and will participate in group activities related to culture and medicine of Mexico in the afternoon. Students will have opportunities to talk and work with folk healers (curanderos), meet with other local medical or professional health students, visit public and private medical facilities in the state in addition to practicing medical interviewing in Spanish. Optional tours to archaeological ruins, Indian markets, and surfing beaches will be available as well. Specific information about program availability will be circulated to 1st and 2nd year medical students around January with informational sessions held in January/February. Scholarships are available on a are limited basis.  Scholarship selections are made within defined criteria based on the interest forms received.  NOTE: Program availability and location site is always subject to change.

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The Department of Family & Community Medicine, along with the College of Medicine, utilizes Blackboard as its course management tool for all required and elective courses. 

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The first two years of study introduce students to the technical language, principles, and methods of investigation in the primary disciplines of biomedical science. Normal and abnormal functions of the body as they relate to health and disease are studied. The first two years of study introduce students to the technical language, principles, and methods of investigation in the primary disciplines of biomedical science. Normal and abnormal functions of the body as they relate to health and disease are studied.

All 4th year courses are open to visiting students on a space availability basis.

Click year for Course Listing
1st & 2nd year
3rd year
4th year
Electives

1. MD 815/825 - Patient Centered Medicine (Click here to open & close description.)

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   • Patient Centered Medicine will provide first-year (&will eventually be continued into the second year) medical students the opportunity to develop early knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to practice patient-centered and evidenced-based care in today's healthcare environment.  The course will include a wide range of learning opportunities and will focus on medical professionalism as a major thread throughout the course.
     
     Students will learn the foundational knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to become effective and compassionate physician professionals, by emphasizing the model of patient-centered clinical medicine, which includes:
     
     Exploring both the disease and the illness experience
     Understanding the whole person
     Finding a common ground
     Incorporating prevention and health promotion
     Enhancing the patient-doctor relationship
     Quality of care
     
     This course contains the elements of a traditional introduction to clinical medicine course with an emphasis on the biopsychosocial model.  Each November, students will begin participating in a Longitudinal Clinical Experience and some will participate in a Family Clinical Experience that will introduce them to aspects of patient-centered clinical medicine.  PCM will prepare students for the second year course where they will continue to learn more about physical diagnosis and advanced interviewing skills.

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1. MD 810 - Patients, Physicians, and Society I & II (Click here to open & close description.)

   1. This course is taught in problem-based learning sessions with a small group of students and a faculty tutor. Focusing on biopsychosocial, ethical, and socioeconomic factors involved in human illness, this course helps students gain insight into the medical cases and situations they will encounter throughout their careers. The course is taught by multiple disciplines to include faculty from the Department of Family & Community Medicine.

1. MD 811 - Introduction to the Medical Profession I & II
       (Click here to open & close description.)

   1. This course provides early instruction in eliciting the medical history, performing the physical examination, interpreting laboratory tests, and understanding the process of clinical decision-making focused on principles of evidence-based medicine. Professional behaviors and the patient-physician relationship are emphasized. Course materials are integrated with simultaneous studies (e.g., neurological examination at the time of neurosciences study) when possible. This course is taught by multiple disciplines to include faculty from the Department of Family & Community Medicine.

1. MD834 - Primary Care Clerkship/Family Medicine (Click here to open & close description.)

   1. This ambulatory-based rotation for third year medical students presently consists of four weeks of family medicine in various locations across the state and within the Family Medical Center at the University of Kentucky. Click here for goals and objectives (current year).

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1. FP841/FM841 - Offsite Preceptorship in FP/FM (Click here to open & close description.)

   1. This clerkship is designed to provide the student with an intensive clinical experience in Family Medicine. The rotation will take place off-site from the University Medical Center in one of a number of rural Kentucky communities. During the clerkship, students will work closely with an experienced family practice preceptor. Please refer to the student affairs/4th year course catologue for current year goals and objectives

1. FP850/FM850 - Acting Internship/UK (Click here to open & close description.)

   1. This clerkship is designed to provide the student with an advanced clinical experience in Family Medicine. The rotation will take place in the Family Medical Center (FMC) of the Department of Family & Community Medicine and at the University Hospital. During the clerkship, students will function as Family Medicine Interns under the supervision of Family Medicine faculty and residents. Please refer to the student affairs/4th year course catologue for current year goals and objectives

1. FP851/FM851 - Clinical Clerkship (Click here to open & close description.)

   1. This clerkship is designed to provide the visiting student or senior UK medical student with advanced clinical experience in Family Medicine. The rotation will take place in the Family Medical Center (FMC) of the Department of Family & Community Medicine and may involve taking care of patients at various other locations in the community. During the clerkship, students will work closely with Family Medicine faculty and residents.

1. FP852/FM852 - Interdisciplinary Approach to Sports Medicine
                      (Click here to open & close description.)

   1. This is an interdisciplinary elective designed for students interested in Primary Care/Sports Medicine. Students completing this clerkship will be exposed to all aspects of sports injuries and illness while working with athletes at the scholastic, collegiate, and professional level athletes.

1. FP853/FM853 - International Clerkship in Primary Care (Click here to open & close description.)

   1. The purpose of the Primary Care/Community Medicine international elective is two fold. First, the elective will be an experience of primary care in an international setting. Students will choose one location from among sites already selected which will provide an excellent clinical experience with supervision. The second point is to encourage students to learn about the health systems in the host country. This immersion experience will require the student to live in and learn from the community about the health and health concerns of its people.

1. FP854/FM854 - Acting Internship/Rural (Click here to open & close description.)

   1. This is a four week clerkship for students interested in Rural Medicine. The experience is presently set up to take place in the either the Morehead and/or Hazard areas of the state. Additional rural locations for this experience are presently under development. Click here for goals and objectives (current year).

1. FP855/FM855 - Hospice & Palliative Care: A Continuum of Caring
                     (Click here to open & close description.)

   1. This course is for motivated fourth year students who want to understand more about Hospice and Palliative Care. This rotation will present students with a multidisciplinary approach to caring for patients by working with doctors, nurses, social workers, home care providers and chaplains. Students will interact with patients in a variety of settings including, patient’s homes, the palliative care clinic, the hospital and the Saint Joseph Hospice Care Center.

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