Second Year Required Clerkship
Director, Medical Student Education and Clerkship Director
The Family Medicine Clerkship is a required four-week clinical rotation for second year (M2) medical students. The goal of this clerkship is to expose each student to ambulatory family medicine in a community-based clinical setting. Students will attend didactic teaching sessions which will present core concepts of Family Medicine and allow them to develop a knowledge base which will be reinforced throughout their clinical experiences in Family Medicine clinic sites.
The Family Medicine Clerkship provides students an opportunity to learn about the comprehensive diagnosis and management of patients with common undifferentiated problems, as well as provisions of chronic disease management. In addition, students will experience the key features of Family Medicine such as diagnosis and management in the ambulatory setting, continuity of care, appreciation of the impact of social determinants of health on healthcare outcomes across populations, preventive medicine, and the team-based approach. The clerkship experience will also provide opportunities for the students to improve their skills in doctor-patient communication, history-taking and physical examination, differential diagnosis formation, stepwise decision-making to yield a cogent therapeutic plan, and office-based procedures.
Family Medicine encompasses the spectrum of medical care during an individual’s life cycle. The student will be exposed to a wide range of clinical experiences, including but not limited to routine health maintenance exams for children and adults of all ages, evidence-based preventive medicine, acute care visits, prenatal care, office-based procedures, and management of chronic medical conditions within the paradigm of population management. Most importantly, the student will be exposed to the concept of primary care and the unique relationship that exists between the patients and their family physician in the patient-centered medical home model
Student Manual Downloads
2019 - 2020 Student Manual (PDF)
2019-2020 Preceptor Manual (PDF)
2020-2021 Student Manual (PDF)
2024-2025 Student Manual (PDF)
For more information, please contact:
Andrea Murawa
Clerkship Coordinator
[email protected]
(734) 998‐7138
Students outside of the University of Michigan who are interested in a rotation in Family Medicine should contact the University of Michigan Medical School Visiting Student Program.
Disability Health Elective (FAMMED 8204)
The Disability Health Elective is a 2-week course for medical students in the branches to rotate among different clinics specializing in disability-based care (e.g., Deaf Health, Adaptive Sports Medicine, Spinal Cord Injury, Cerebral Palsy, Low Vision, etc.) Students will be introduced to elements of disability theory, clinical practice, disability law, and implications for policy. The course will also incorporate small group discussions and online training with the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities program. The overarching goal of the course is to enable medical students to be able to provide a person-centered approach to caring for patients who have disabilities. This effort is to improve the quality of care and reduce disparities in health outcomes for people with disabilities. The Disability Health Elective is offered in Sept, January, and April. The elective was established by the U-M Family Medicine MDisability Program. Learn more about MDisability —>
