Year 2

The Clinical Trunk comprises two distinct phases:

Transition to Clerkships

Building on your Interprofessional Education, Scientific Trunk sequences, Chief Concern and Doctoring courses, you will learn how to function in the clinic. This four-week introductory course focuses 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 in seven core clerkships. You will rotate in your teams over the course of 48 weeks, 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

These required core clerkships cover the following departments:

12 weeks each:

Internal Medicine
Surgery and Applied Sciences (a combination of Surgery, Pathology, Anesthesiology, Anatomy and Radiology)

Six weeks each:

OB-GYN
Pediatrics

Four weeks each:

Family Medicine
Neurology
Psychiatry

Clinical Trunk Intensive

About half way through the Clinical Trunk, students leave their rotations and come back together over four days to expand their knowledge on the different components within Health System Science and the important roles they play in addressing problems with the current state of our health care in the United States.

USMLE Step 1

The Step I exam is taken after the entire Clinical Trunk is complete following a dedicated eight-week study period. The Clinical Trunk naturally segues into the Branches phase of the curriculum with the continuity of clinical rotations integrated with scientific learning.

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

Transition to Clerkships course
Patient evaluations in a variety of clinical settings
Multidisciplinary clinically driven learning
Immersion in department-based clinical care teams on core clinical rotations
Science and Practice of Medicine course

In the Clinical Trunk, you solidify and apply what you learned during your first year through the direct care of patients. Medical students are critically important members of care teams, and you will find many opportunities to bring your unique skills and passion to improve the outcomes for patients.

Seetha U. Monrad, M.D., Interim Assistant Dean for Curriculum; Assistant Dean for Assessment, Evaluation and Quality Improvement; and Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Learning Health Sciences