A Message from the Clerkship Director
3rd Year Required Clerkship in Family Medicine

Theresa Woehrle MD, MPH
Clerkship Director
Assistant Professor of Clinical Family Medicine

“Family medicine is the medical specialty which provides continuing, comprehensive health care for the individual and family. It is a specialty in breadth that integrates the biological, clinical and behavioral sciences. The scope of family medicine encompasses all ages, both sexes, each organ system and every disease entity.” AAFP definition of Family Medicine, 1986, 2005.

As described by the American Academy of Family Physicians; “Family medicine is a three-dimensional specialty, incorporating the dimensions of (1) knowledge, (2) skill, and (3) process. While knowledge and skill may be shared with other specialties, the family medicine process is unique. At the center of this process is the patient-physician relationship with the patient viewed in the context of the family. It is the extent to which this relationship is valued, developed, nurtured and maintained that distinguishes family medicine from all other specialties.” (AAFP website 3/10/2006.) The specialty of family medicine is well rooted in a history of service to patients, psychosocial care, social activism and managing the complexity of the health care system. The objectives of the Keck-USC Family Medicine Clerkship are organized along guiding principles that reflect these traditions: self care, systems-based care, patient-centered care, and essential knowledge and skills. These objectives are addressed throughout the six-week clerkship experience. Students demonstrate competence in meeting the clerkship objectives through weekly patient encounter logs and journals, a written exam, a clinical skills exam (OSCE), and other required clerkship assignments. Students take their rotation in a variety of possible community-based clinical sites with an ambulatory care emphasis. The clerkship experience emphasizes the breadth and depth of family medicine practice. We place an emphasis on issues of cross-culturalism, community, and systems-based care. We make a concerted effort and encourage students to match with preceptors working in officially designated underserved sites. Students begin the clerkship by meeting with the preceptor and establishing their own personal goals and objectives based on areas of interest and areas of perceived strength and needed growth.

Clerkship Personnel:
The clerkship curriculum is guided by a core advisory committee that meets weekly to insure that formative feedback is reviewed and issues are addressed in a timely and comprehensive manner.

Anne Walsh, P.A.-C., Medical Student Educator and Lucy Hernandez, Clerkship Coordinator have worked tirelessly to improve our FM Clerkship. Students, faculty, and volunteer preceptors have all acknowledged their excellent administration, organization, creativity, and communication skills.

Family Medicine Clerkship Program Awarded "Outstanding Clerkship" from it's Students.

MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of the Keck-USC Family Medicine Clerkship is to provide a unique learning environment for medical students to explore their areas of interest in medicine and to develop a meaningful and enduring appreciation for what a family physician is and does.