GENERAL GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
FOR RVUCOM CLINICAL ROTATIONS
THIRD YEAR CLASS
Main Education Goal: Observation of clinical services and procedures, and history and
physical gathering
The main objective of the third year in medical school is to provide clinical observation experiences in the core
specialties of medicine and surgery. These core fields are Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics/
Gynecology, Surgery (both general and specialty), Pediatrics, Geriatrics, and Psychiatry. The major activity is
to primarily observe and participate in health care activities as directed by the chief of the service. Third year
students have passed their national board on the basic sciences of medicine and have had labs and instruction on
common diagnostic procedures such as blood work, UAs , spinal taps, joint aspirations, EKG interpretation, and
radiology reading including CT and MRI. Students are trained in ACLS and BLS procedures.
Third year students are most skilled in history taking and physical exam skills and are expected to function in
this capacity at the beginning of the rotation. Third year students will come with knowledge of surgery scrub
techniques and basic OB delivery skills. They understand they are to mostly observe procedures and participate
in any activity the attending physician requests them to do.
DIDACTIC ACTIVITIES
Student will be expected to participate in any didactic programs that occur in the hospital or residency
program. Rocky Vista University will have self study and point of care learning activities that will
supplement the clinical experience. At the end of each clinical experience, the students will be given a
Shelf Exam that they must pass to complete the rotation. The medical school will be responsible for
providing the Osteopathic Skills education to the students. A complete outline of these activities will be
available to the clinical rotation sites.
Rocky Vista University is mindful of the fact that it is impossible to write a curriculum for clinical
rotations, because the experiences are dependent on the patient mix and demographics. We therefore
have formulated general guidelines and objectives that may, or may not, be achieved during the clinical
experiences. Many times it is helpful to look at the six top diagnosis codes for that service and design
the program around that. The following is a listing by core subjects of the suggested goals for that
service.
INTERNAL MEDICINE
Major Goal: To observe and participate in the workup and management of Internal Medicine
patients both inpatient and outpatient.

Admission History and Physical taking;

Observation of Treatment Plan formulation and Order writing;

Observation of the management of common internal medicine problems.
FAMILY MEDICINE
Major Goal: To observe and participate in the inpatient and outpatient activities of the Family
Practice Service.

Outpatient management of Hypertension;

Outpatient management of Diabetes;

Preventive Health Education;

Out patient Management of Common
Respiratory Problems;

Prenatal care if provided in the FP Clinics;

Management of Depression.
.
PEDIATRICS
Major Goal: To observe and participate in the work up and management of inpatient and outpatient
pediatric patients.

Management of common childhood illness;

Well checks

Immunization evaluation;

Pediatric Nutritional counseling;

Management of common Infectious disease
problems in children; Well Child checks;

Observation of inpatient procedures if
applicable.
OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY
Major Goal: To observe the management of the Obstetrical Patient in pre- partum, intra-partum,
and post-partum periods, and observe and participate in the work up and management of common
OB/GYN Problems.

Observe the initial OB Exam Process;

Observe a normal delivery;

Observe the Prenatal visits and various
stages of gestation;

Observe and understand Fetal Monitoring;


Observe Operative Deliveries, as applicable;
Observe OB Ultrasonography;

Take night call with attending, if applicable.
SURGERY
Major Goal: To observe the work up and treatment of surgical patients both general and specialty
types. Observe the treatment of the patient in the intra-operative period.

Perform Pre-Op Histories and Physicals for
surgical patients;



Become familiar with the roles of the
various surgical specialties in the treatment
of the patient;
Observe and participate in the surgical
decision making process;

Observe and scrub, if applicable, on surgical
cases selected by the surgeons;
Participate in pre-operative and postoperative care of the patient;

Observe the treatment of the patient in the
intra-operative period.
PSYCHIATRY
Major Goal: To observe the work up and management of the patient with Mental Health/Behavior
Disorders both in the acute and chronic setting.

Observe and become proficient in using the
mini mental status exam;

Observe the evaluation of acute mental
health problems;

Observe the decision making process for the
treatment of patient with behavioral
disorders;

Observe the workup and treatment of
patients with substance abuse problems.
THIRD YEAR SELECTIVES
Third year selectives include Anesthesia, Emergency Medicine, Neurology, Radiology, Medical and
Pediatric Subspecialty, and Subspecialty Surgery.
The student is mainly expected to observe and assist upon direction of the attending or supervising
physicians. The students will have had extensive training on hospital policy and procedure as well as
completed ACLS and BLS and can function in areas the physicians and staff feel appropriate.
They have had formal procedural training in outpatient diagnostic procedures including minor office
surgery and spinal taps. They have also received basic instruction in wound care and suturing.
The students can function as part of the team by collecting data from performing histories and physicals
as well as organizing lab data that has been collected from the patient. The students have also had
extensive training in formal presentation of clinical material and are expected to observe the formulation
of treatment plans. They are expected to be on call with physicians if deemed appropriate by the clinical
service.
FOURTH YEAR ROTATION OBJECTIVES
The purpose of the fourth year of medical school is to prepare the student to enter the residency program
of their choice. This year has fewer core requirements and more elective rotations which are the
student’s choice. During the first half of the year it is to the student’s advantage to seek a rotation at the
facility that they would want to match with after graduation.
Core subjects that offer greater autonomy and require more experience are done during the fourth year.
These courses are Critical Care Medicine for one month, Emergency Medicine for one month, and Rural
Family Medicine/Indigent care for two months. The remaining seven months are selectives.
The fourth year selectives are Sub-Internships where students can participate in procedures such as
vaginal deliveries, culposcopy, endoscopy, minor surgical procedures, exercise stress testing, and
formulating treatment plans. The fourth year student can also help teach third year students on the
rotations. The length of these experiences depends on the choice of the student in conjunction with the
training institution.
CRITICAL CARE MONTH
Major Goal for Critical Care:
To participate as part of the team in a large urban critical care unit.
EMERGENCY ROOM
Major Goal for Emergency Room: To function as part of the ER Team and participate in the workup as well as treatment of patients. The student also will be expected to assimilate patient data and
participate in the formation and delivery of treatment plans to be approved by a physician. A fourth year
student should have the skills to deliver many of the basic emergency room procedures under direction
and supervision of attending staff and physicians.
SELECTIVE ROTATIONS AND SUB-INTERNSHIPS
Major Goal: To provide students with the opportunity to set up rotations at sites that they may wish to
enter residencies. Students who have decided on a field of specialty could use this opportunity to focus
on pre-residency training in a sub-internship.