Medical Student Education

There is no comparable way for the student to observe a physician in his/her medical, ethical, and community relationships than in the family medicine preceptorship.

This experience is reserved for third-year medical students since it is our belief that these students are sufficiently educated and trained to be entrusted with the physical examination of, the taking of medical history for, and the making of tentative diagnoses and proposed treatment on patients under the supervision and review of a licensed physician: the preceptor.

The preceptorship period lasts eight weeks, beginning on a Monday morning and ending on a Friday. For certain preceptor sites, appropriate travel time is taken into consideration. Students are required to spend the morning of their first day and the afternoon of their last day of the preceptorship on campus in the Family Medicine Department. The calendar for rotations follows national holiday and spring break schedules. Any holidays which fall during the preceptorship (i.e., July 4th, Labor Day) and weekends are arranged between the student and the preceptor.