Medicine Clerkship

Clerkship Overview

The 8 week internal medicine clerkship provides exposure to patients with a variety of acute and chronic problems. The medicine clerkship is intended to provide a basic introduction to the practice of inpatient and outpatient medicine. Instruction in internal medicine occurs in clinics, classrooms, and other care areas affiliated with Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. During the eight weeks, students will learn how to work effectively and efficiently on the inpatient ward and improve their ability to work up, present, and care for patients with complicated medical and social problems.  Ambulatory medicine training is scheduled one-half day each week during the eight-week inpatient rotation.  Students are assigned to see patients at a hospital based or free standing outpatient clinic or in a private physician’s office.

Our goals are to give students an appreciation for the challenge and excitement of primary care medicine, the opportunity to see and learn from patients with a variety of general and subspecialty problems, and didactic instruction in several topics related to ambulatory care. Whenever possible, students receive individualized bedside instruction in patient evaluation from faculty. We hope students find these eight weeks particularly valuable in improving their problem-solving, physical diagnosis, and patient evaluation skills.