Family Medicine Clinical Experience

LIMITED AVAILABILITY FOR AY2026-2027

Department of Family and Community Medicine

  • Course Information

    Course Number: RFCM601

    Prerequisites: Completion of all Phase 2 clerkships

    Length of Time: 2 or 4 weeks

    Phase Availability: Phase 3

    Credit Type: Physician Assessed Patient-Facing (PAPFE) or Open

    Call: No

  • Contact Information

    Program Directors at UW Health: Neal Kellenberger, MD; Mary Simmons, MD; Bruce Stiles, MD
    (Location NOT AVAILABLE for AY2026-2027)

    Program Director at Mile Square / LP Johnson: Aarohi Munshi, MD

    Coordinator/Scheduling: Allison King (aking75@uic.edu)

    Locations: UW Health Family Medicine Clinic Belvidere (1700 Henry Luckow Ln, Belvidere, IL 61008); Mile Square / LP Johnson (1221 E State St, Rockford, IL 61104)

Narrative Description: This two or four-week clinical experience at a Family Medicine clinic will focus on diagnosis, development of a management plan and practice issues such as phone triage and practice management.

Learning Objectives:

The student who successfully completes this rotation will be able to:

  1. Develop and implement a management plan for common acute and chronic
  2. Adequately handle phone triage of patient
  3. Be knowledgeable with the basics of practice
  4. Be knowledgeable with academic medicine including mentoring M2/M3 students and preparing a teaching session.
  5. Continue self-awareness through continual self-

Learning Activities:

  1. Introduction to Phone Triage
    1. Spend time with the nursing staff and become familiar with answering phones, returning patient calls and delivering lab results to patients.
    2. Complete a phone triage lecture on
    3. Write a reflection paragraph on your
  2. Introduction to Practice Management
    1. Spend time with the office manager and support
    2. Attend a staff meeting if Note service style, phone management, billing services, appointment setting, records management, and referral management.
    3. Write a reflection paragraph on your
  3. Professionalism and Academic Preparation
    1. Prepare and deliver a presentation for students, faculty & staff at the Follow the Lesson Plan Outline in preparation and provide a copy of your lesson to your faculty mentor.
  4. Patient care and procedures
    1. The M4 student – already accomplished in history taking and physical exam – will be expected to focus on diagnosis and development of a management plan. When completing the patient visit, the faculty preceptor will shadow the M4 in the encounter so that the student will have the full responsibility to complete the visit on their own with minimal faculty The student may want to consider videotaping the encounter for self-reflection (patient must sign consent prior to videotaping.)
    2. Reflect on the acute and chronic nature of the visits, any patient care plans and education needs that were met, and how this focus affected your thoughts on Family Medicine. Document your thoughts in your journal.
    3. Pick one patient encounter and work up the case using the Evidence-Based Case Study Evaluation Form as your guide. Utilize appropriate techniques in searching for evidence-based research and reference your sources. You should use a minimum of three references.
    4. With your faculty mentor’s assistance, seek out and participate in procedural opportunities in the clinic. Document the procedures in your journal.
    5. The 4-week course will include hospital and nursing home rounds with a family practice resident and supervising physician.
    6. Using the Case Study guidelines, develop a case study on a patient who was seen in the hospital or nursing home – preferably one that was subsequently seen at the office for follow-up care.

Method of Assessment:

  1. The supervising provider will evaluate the student’s performance in areas of professionalism, level of interest and clinical work, with additional input solicited from other faculty and The comments will be incorporated in the student’s final evaluation.
  2. Faculty/staff evaluations of the student’s presentation will be reviewed with scores and comments taken into consideration by the supervising provider when calculating the student’s final grade.
  3. Supervising provider will review the student’s case study for content, use of evidence-based research methods, and quality of the final product.

Required Reading: None

General Scheduling: A schedule will be shared with students two weeks prior to the start date. The hours are typically Monday-Friday, 8-5pm.

Additional Resources: None

Miscellaneous Information: None