First & Second Year Electives

1. Family Medicine - Opportunities are available for students to work with local Family Physicians. Call our department at (504)988-4700 or email fammed@tulane.edu.
   
   
2. Health Promotion - Students attend discussions at Tulane where they are given the necessary information and techniques to teach various health topics. Students then go out to local high schools and teach/participate in health education programs.
   
   
3. Health Promotion/Disease Prevention Summer Assistantship - Rising second year students will work with a faculty member of the Department or affiliated Residency on a Health Promotion/Disease Prevention project, during the summer break. There will also be opportunities for the student to shadow clinicians during patient care. Selection for the assistantship will be by application. Depending upon funding, stipends may be available.
   
   
4. General Preventive Medicine - Students with an interest in preventive medicine and public health can arrange for elective time shadowing Preventive Medicine residents and participating in their scheduled activities.
   

Foundations in Medicine - Family and Community Medicine Contributions: Students interact extensively with faculty from Family and Community Medicine during the Foundations in Medicine course. Our Faculty give lectures, participate as small group discussion leaders on community and preventive medicine, the health care system, social and economic issues, and teach in the Interviewing and Physical Diagnosis parts of the course. Field experience with a variety of community agencies and health providers in small groups are arranged as part of the Foundations in Medicine course. Students are required to successfully complete BLS training for health care providers during the Freshman year.

Summer learning opportunities

LAHEC - Primary Care Summer Preceptorship (an elective opportunity):
A cooperative effort between: Tulane School of Medicine, The Louisiana Area Health Education Centers, The Louisiana Chapter of the American College of Physicians, The Louisiana Office of Public Health, The Louisiana Office of Mental Health

The AHEC Primary Care Summer Preceptorship (PCE-120) is an introductory course encompassing four primary care clinical specialties (Family, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Pediatrics) and the Louisiana Office of Public Health and Mental Health. Preclinical medical students compete for stipend supported positions available to both Louisiana residents and non-residents. Only students who successfully complete all requirements for their first year of medical school are eligible to participate in this program.

The purpose of this four-week elective is to provide preclinical students an opportunity to observe medicine as it is practiced by primary care physicians in a rural, urban or underserved environment. Course goals and objectives enable a student to relate basic science concepts to the practice of medicine; to understand the role of the physician in the community setting and to appreciate the need for self-directed and lifelong learning. Students may be placed throughout the state in a variety of practice settings ranging from very rural to urban community health centers.

At the conclusion of the summer elective all students attended site Feedback Sessions. During these sessions students presented a synopsis of their individual experiences. All students emphasized the value of a medical mentoring experience; positive acceptance into a new community and a heightened awareness of a physician's responsibilities beyond patient care.

• Tulane Rural Medical Education Program (TRuMEd)