Year 2

In addition to the longitudinal elements of the Doctoring Course, Leadership and Paths of Excellence, the Clinical Trunk features:

Patient evaluations in a variety of clinical settings
Multidisciplinary clinically driven learning
Immersion in department-based clinical care teams
Science in the Clinical Context

Everything does not have a right or wrong answer, that's the reality of medicine. The ability to tolerate uncertainty and change, demonstrate flexibility and self-motivation, and take ownership for your learning is important. We want students who are motivated and not content with the status quo. We seek people who are willing to start with a framework, identify their own needs and utilize the resources available to them to keep building on it. Our curriculum promotes those skills.

Seetha Ursula Monrad, M.D., Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine, and Science & Clinical Trunk Director

The Clinical Trunk comprises two distinct phases:

Transition to Clerkships: Building on your Interprofessional Clinical Experience, Interprofessional Education, Scientific Trunk sequences, Chief Concern and Doctoring courses, you will learn how to function in the clinic. The focus is on:

Health care team function
Clinical problem solving with patients
Integrated science learning with patient interactions
Directed teaching and feedback from Doctoring faculty built around clinical skills

Clerkships: In this phase, you will enter into departmentally organized clinical rotations, similar to the standard clerkship model. You will rotate in your departmental teams, fully prepared with a robust skill set and ready to hit the ground running. The focus is on:

Immersion into care teams
Skills of patient care and management
Pre-Branch exploration

The Step I exam is taken after the entire Clinical Trunk is complete. The Clinical Trunk naturally segues into the Branches phase of the curriculum with the continuity of clinical rotations integrated with scientific learning.