Standards 6.10 & 6.10.1

Standard 6.10

“The COM must develop and implement its clinical clerkship training curricula to achieve the COM’s mission and objectives.”

AND

Standard 6.10.1

“The COM must utilize the clinical education capabilities of its Osteopathic Postdoctoral Training Institution (OPTI) partners to offer predoctoral clinical education clerkships to its students.”

Through its clinical campuses, the Heritage College has developed and implemented an outstanding clinical education training program to achieve the college’s mission and objectives, meeting both of the clerkship standards above.

Students are randomly assigned to a clinical campus during the Heritage College Clinical Campus Assignment Process (HC-CCAP) early in year 2 of the program. In summer term of the third year, students move to one of the clinical campuses located throughout the state of Ohio. All Heritage College students (no matter which campus or curricular track they are assigned to for years 1 and 2) are based at a clinical campus for years 3 and 4, and whenever possible all required rotations are taken at that clinical campus. For Dublin and Cleveland students, they are based at their academic campuses for years 3 and 4.

In the fall all students enroll in a four-week Introduction to Family Medicine – OCOM 8010 - during one of the first 3-5 months on rotation. It is followed by a two-week rotation in Family Medicine that whenever possible is taught in a Family Medicine Residency Clinic. This exposure to clinical training in ambulatory primary care settings is designed to begin to emphasize the topic of primary care evident throughout the year 3 and 4 curriculum. Students are required to attend a total of eighteen weeks of primary care (10 week of family medicine, 4 weeks of general IM and 4 weeks of general pediatrics) in the clinical education curriculum, and may conduct as many elective weeks in primary care as they desire. To encourage a career in primary care as stated in the Heritage College mission, students are limited to no more than 12 weeks in a subspecialty or non-primary care field.

Students meet curricular requirements in a combination of hospital-based and ambulatory rotations, which heavily emphasize primary care medicine and ambulatory medical care, to provide a broad, well-rounded clinical experience. Clinical campus administrators are strongly encouraged to place students in rotations which allow them to spend time learning in the out-patient setting as well as in the hospital (for example a four-week rotation in Women’s Health would include 2 weeks in out-patient gynecology and two weeks in hospital-based obstetrics). In addition to their participation in required rotations, students have the opportunity to schedule elective rotations in medical disciplines to pursue their personal interests and/or meet unique clinical training needs.

Rotations are designed to provide students with active, hands-on learning experiences in medical situations. Under the supervision of clinical faculty, students become involved in the case management of patients as they refine their problem-solving, diagnostic and therapeutic skills. Rotation schedules are constructed with assistance from clinical campus administrative personnel to ensure that curricular requirements are met. Each rotation is a separate learning experience and Ohio University course, and each student’s evaluation is based on an individual assessment by faculty during that rotation. Concurrent with these experiences, various didactic activities are incorporated into the curriculum to augment student learning, utilizing such instructional modalities as case-based modules, lectures, professional development seminars, clinical case conferences, tumor board meetings, case-based discussions, interactives computer assignments and the use of self-instructional audio-visual materials.

The clinical training phase of Heritage College’s predoctoral osteopathic medical education consists of 81 weeks of required clinical experiences – 49 weeks at the clinical campuses and 32 weeks at clinical training sites of the student’s choice. Required clinical rotations include:

1. Introduction to Family Medicine
2. Family Medicine 1
3. Family Medicine 2
4. General Internal Medicine
5. Pediatrics
6. General Surgery
7. Women’s Health
8. Emergency Medicine
9. Psychiatry/Psychology
10. Health Care Management
11. Palliative Care
12. Internal Medicine Subspecialty Selectives
13. Surgery Selectives

Supporting Documentation

• Sample Clinical Campus Agreement
• Contract for Academic Sponsorship of Osteopathic Graduate Medical Education Programs
• Assistant Deans’ Meeting Agendas and Notes
• Year 3 & 4 Website
• Year 3-4 Clerkship Syllabi
• Year 3-4 Manual

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