First Year - Required Basic Science Year
During the first year of study, students are expected to complete satisfactorily the required basic science core courses listed below. The academic year consists of a fall and a spring semester of eighteen and twenty-three weeks, respectively. Courses are taught in five different blocks of time within those semesters. In addition, students are required to participate in a year-long course, Introduction to Clinical Care. This course, which also is offered throughout the second year as Ambulatory Care Clerkship, is designed to expand ambulatory, primary, and continuity care experience for Duke medical students. The course is a combined clinical curricular experience which emphasizes progressive knowledge and competencies. The course meets one afternoon per week with students beginning a supervised clinic assignment in January. Thereafter, students are in the clinic every other week and in small and large group instruction in the alternating weeks.

FALL SEMESTER

　

Year-Long Introduction to Clinical Care	1 credit fall
Block I Biochemistry - 4 credits Genetics - 2 credits Cell Biology - 2 credits	Block II Microanatomy - 2 credits Physiology - 2 credits Gross Human Anatomy - 4 credits
	Total Fall Credits: 19

SPRING SEMESTER

　

Year-Long Introduction to Clinical Care	2 credits Spring
Block III Basic Neurobiology - 4 credits	Block V Pharmacology - 4 credits (Pathology II)
Block IV Microbiology -5 credits Pathology I - 5 credits Immunology - 2 credits	Total Spring Credits: 22

Second Year - Required Clinical Rotation Year
The second year provides an exposure to clinical science disciplines, which permits students early in their careers to become participants in the care of patients. The acquired appreciation of the problems of the clinical areas and the opportunities to recognize the applications of the basic sciences should lead to a more meaningful selection of courses for the subsequent two years.

The year begins with a three-week intensive learning period that is a part of the year-long course Ambulatory Care Clerkship (this course is a continuation of Intro to Clinical Care taken during the first year), and is followed by three, sixteen week semesters during which the core clinical rotations are taken. These rotations are: eight-week courses in internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics, a six-week rotation in psychiatry, and either an eight-week rotation in family medicine or a four-week rotation in family medicine and a four-week rotation in neurology. A core clinical rotation in medical practice and health systems lasting two weeks follows the psychiatry rotation.

In addition, all students must take and pass the Clinical Performance Examination (CPX), a standardized test of clinical performance, after completing second-year clerkships. It was developed by faculty from all four medical schools in North Carolina and is now administered at all schools. The purpose of the CPX is to evaluate the effectiveness of the clinical curriculum and individual students's ability to respond to patient problems and concerns. Skills of relating to and communicating with patients, history taking, physical examination, and assessment and planning are evaluated for fifteen different patients. Students performing below minimal competency of the CPX will have additional structured learning required during their fourth year.

The Clinical Elective Curriculum
During the final year of undergraduate medical education, students are called upon to integrate and apply knowledge in the basic and clinical sciences that they have gained through course-work, scholarly research, patient interaction, and case study during the past three years. The clinical, elective curriculum is designed to promote professional diversity and personal growth; its flexibility enables students to use this time to explore interests in areas of postgraduate training, to obtain experience in fields that would not be included in that postgraduate training and, above, all, to pursue active experiences in patient care sufficient to provide the basic skills necessary for doctor/patient interaction.

To prepare for the clinical elective year, third year students meet in the spring with their advisory deans to examine postgraduate training interests and to receive information as to the names of specific individuals in those areas at Duke who can be contacted for discussion. The following are also considered:

(1) Composition of the clinical elective experience;
(2) Timetable for application to postgraduate programs;
(3) Appropriate postgraduate programs based upon the student's previous performance and specific long-range interests.

This site is best viewed using NETSCAPE 4.0 or higher Last modified: March 6, 2000 - Please send comments to the Medical School Registrar's Office, Box 3878 DUMC 27710