Longitudinal Family Medicine Clinic

Department of Family and Community Medicine

  • Course Information

    Course Numbers: RFCM604, RFCM605

    Prerequisites: Completion of Internal Medicine, Surgery, Family Medicine, Pediatrics, OB/GYN, and Psychiatry Clerkships.
    *While Phase 3 students are preferred, faculty will consider students who have completed all required clerkships except Neurology.

    Length of Time: Longitudinal (August-April)

    Phase Availability: Phase 2 and Phase 3

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

    Call: No

  • Contact Information

    Program Director: Rhonda Verzal, MD (rdepau2@uic.edu)

    Other Participating Faculty: Joseph Garry, MD (garry@uic.edu); Joseph Ross, MD (joeross@uic.edu); Karen Liao, MD (tiliao2@uic.edu); Aarohi Munshi, MD (aarohim@uic.edu)

    Coordinators/Scheduling: Allison King (aking75@uic.edu), Bee Kopera (bethenyk@uic.edu), Cindy Lopez (clopez@uic.edu)

    Location: UW Health Hospital (1401 E State St., Rockford, IL 61104) and Mile Square / LP Johnson (1221 E State St. Rockford, IL 61104)

Narrative Description: This longitudinal outpatient clinical elective will allow selected M4 students an immersive and guided experience in the education and outpatient clinical practice of Family Medicine. The goal is for students to be acting in the outpatient clinic at a level of autonomy that is similar to that of an intern (PGY-1) by the end of their M4 year. This course is designed for individuals seeking placement in a family medicine residency. This course requires students to complete a minimum of 20 half-day outpatient family medicine clinics across the year with their assigned preceptor and resident. The focus of these clinics will be on continuity of care for the patient population seen at the MSHC LP Johnson site at UIC Rockford. Students will be expected to participate in assigned didactics across the year. Feedback will be provided throughout the year when students participate in a minimum of eight one-on-one mentoring sessions with their assigned family medicine preceptor and resident.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the course students will be able to:

  1. Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the unique issues facing Family Medicine physicians who care for patients in the ambulatory and hospital settings.
  2. Provide ambulatory medical care to a continuity-care panel of patients in a longitudinal and supervised setting.
  3. Perform minor surgical procedures in the care of their patients under supervision.
  4. Appreciate and understand the core concepts of population health and community engagement.

Learning Activities: Outpatient

Didactics

Students will attend didactics as deemed appropriate by the course director throughout the year. Any didactics offered to the family medicine residents while the student is on site will be required for the student to attend. Additional didactics will be offered at times available to the student based on the student’s unique schedule. Zoom and recorded lectures will be utilized as needed. Formats include lectures, M&M conferences, case discussion, small group discussion, and journal club.

Ambulatory Outpatient Clinic

Students will be instructed through supervision of direct patient care in the ambulatory clinical setting at the MSHC LP Johnson clinic site for at least 20 half days across the course. By the end of the course, students will be expected to function at the level of an intern (PGY-1) in the outpatient setting and will be given a level of autonomy to reflect this. Students can expect to perform minor procedures for their assigned patients while being supervised by their attending or assigned resident. Students will have direct experience working in the electronic health record and will engage in ambulatory continuity-of-care for a selected panel of patients.

Example Schedule to be repeated at least 5 weeks throughout the year:

  • Monday
    • Morning – Ambulatory Clinic
  • Thursday
    • Afternoon – Family Medicine Didactics (if available)
  • Friday
    • Afternoon – Ambulatory Clinic
    • Evening – 1:1 Mentoring with Preceptor/ Resident

Regarding Attendance Across the Year:

This is a longitudinal course. Students will identify days across the year when they are either not enrolled in other course work or enrolled in course work that has established half-days off (e.g. clinic/closed). Students will not be excused from other courses where days will be required to be made up (e.g. Sub-Internships, Transition to Residency, etc). Students will need to work closely with their elective director (Dr. Verzal) and course directors for any other course they are taking throughout the year if they are seeking to complete an outpatient clinic during another course. All absences for Phase 2/3 are approved on the Rockford Campus by the Assistant Dean of Medical Education and Evaluation who will oversee that students are not missing required clinics to attend this course or vice versa.

Daily Responsibilities:

Students will be assigned to a preceptor and resident for the duration of the course. Students will be expected to attend an outpatient clinic with their preceptor to see their own panel of patients under the supervision of their preceptor. They will be required to complete 80 clinical hours across the course. They may also be required to attend scheduled didactics and meetings with mentors as noted above.

Method of Assessment:

Students will receive formative feedback from their assigned preceptor and paired resident a minimum of four times each throughout the course. These will occur after approximately every third outpatient clinic. At the midpoint of the year, the student will meet with their preceptor for formalized mid-rotation feedback to ensure the student is progressing in their knowledge base and practice of family medicine. Students will be expected to perform a self-evaluation of their performance at each individual feedback session to encourage self-reflection and self-directed learning. During these feedback sessions, faculty may share directly observed feedback or case discussions to assess student knowledge.

At the conclusion of the course, students will be assessed using the UICOM Clinical Elective grading form. Students will be graded Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory based on their completion of course requirements (20 half-day clinical sessions, eight one-on-one meetings with faculty/resident mentors, assigned didactic experiences) and meeting the listed course objectives above.

Required Reading: None

Additional Resources:

  • Phenninger and Fowler’s Procedures for Primary Care Physicians. Fowler GC. 2020. ISBN: 978032347633
  • Gabbe’s Obstetrics: Normal & Problem Pregnancies. 8th Edition
  • The Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics, 75th Edition. Author(s): Zachary Crees MD, Cassandra Fritz MD, Alonso Huedebert MD, Jonas Noe MD, Arvind Rengarajan MD, Xiaowen Wang MD ISBN/ISSN: 9781975113513, Publication Date: May 27, 2019

Miscellaneous Information: None