Third & Fourth Year Electives

• Family Medicine Electives
• International Rotations
• Senior Family Medicine Sub-Internship
• Family Practice Research Elective
• Community Medicine Selectives

Family Medicine Electives

Contact fammed@tulane.edu for more information on Senior-year Family Medicine Electives. Completion of the Core Family Medicine 6-week Clerkship is a pre-requisite for any of these electives.

• Family Medicine Preceptorship: Students may elect to complete a Family Medicine rotation in a variety of sites, including with private practices, Family Medicine residencies, community health center or public clinics, both in and out of state. This additional Family Medicine experience may be pre-arranged as either a 2-week or a 4-week elective.
• Family Medicine Special Interest Rotations: The Department can arrange a variety of rotations in areas of special interest and expertise common among Family Physicians. Among those available are Sports Medicine, Health Promotion/Disease Prevention, Geriatrics, Rural Medicine, Adolescent Medicine, Chemical Dependency/Substance Abuse, Evidence-Based Medicine, Patient Education, and Behavioral Science.
• General Preventive Medicine Elective: Students on this elective will spend time shadowing Preventive Medicine residents and participating in the residents' scheduled activities. Students in the past have participated in Seminar and Journal Club, outbreak investigations with the Office of Public Health, community outreach projects, patient education activities, and primary care/public health/ and or sports medicine clinics.

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International (1-2 months)

This block is spent at one of our established sites or at a site arranged by the student with an international preceptor of his/her choosing.

Established sites as of summer 2004 include:

Opportunities for individually-arranged experiences by students who can find an interested and willing preceptor are virtually limitless, but must be pre-arranged with Dr. Valencia. A pre-travel interview is required.

Students are encouraged to spend 2 months on these electives, though 1 month block may be allowed. All students are required to keep a daily journal of his/her experiences. Combined MD/MPH candidates can earn up to 3 credits in the School of Public Health with prior approval.

Click here for more information on international electives.

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Senior Family Medicine Sub-Intership

Purpose: HANDS-ON, WARD-BASED inpatient experience on a Family MEDICINE hospital service in an approved academic program under the supervision of Tulane Clinical faculty. The experience is equivalent to that of a FAMILY MEDICINE intern, but with fewer patients. Patients are of all ages and both genders.

Length: One month

Site and dates available: Specific Site availability may vary from block to block, and MUST be confirmed with the Department of Family and Community Medicine, Adrienne Miester, Program Coordinator, (504) 988-2841. Do not contact sites independently before confirmation with the Department of Family and Community Medicine.

Goals:

• Improve skills for inpatient management of acute conditions.
• Acquire skill for family centered inpatient care.
• Improve consultation and coordination skills between ambulatory primary care and the inpatient setting.

Responsibilities and requirements:

• The student will function as an intern under the supervision of the attending and ward team, and will attend all rounds, conferences, call, and other activities of the inpatient Family Medicine Service.
• The student is responsible for arranging housing after consultation with Adrienne Miester.
• It is the student's responsibility to get their faculty supervisor to complete the final evaluation.
• The student must sign and return the final evaluation by the last day of the subinternship to the Tulane Department of Family and Community Medicine.
• The student must sign and return the rotation evaluation by the last day of the subinternship to the Tulane Department of Family and Community Medicine.

Evaluation: The Tulane clinical faculty and student will participate in an initial meeting regarding goals and expectations. At the end of the block, faculty will fill out an evaluation form, including written comments, in coordination with other service members who may be in a position to evaluate the student's performance.

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Family Practice Research Elective

Description: An opportunity for students interested in Family Medicine and/or primary care research to learn about research topics and methods appropriate to primary care research. The student may develop a research proposal and protocol, conduct a systematic review of the literature, conduct a research project under faculty supervision, or participate in research underway in the Dept of Family & Community Medicine. Research related to prevention, physical activity, healthy eating, weight loss, or domestic violence is encouraged. Other topics may be considered.

Objectives: The student will be able to do at least five of the following:

• Be able to state the steps in the research process
• Understand the importance of protection of research subjects and be able to locate information about how to protect subjects and apply for IRB approval
• Be able to select the appropriate method (e.g., qualitative, observational, cross-sectional, RCT) for the topic they wish to research
• State their research question
• Formulate a testable hypothesis
• Conduct a literature review and synthesize their findings
• Critique the quality of published studies
• Develop a sampling plan
• Develop or use data collection tools
• Collect data in a manner consistent with a research protocol
• Develop an analysis plan with assistance
• Analyze data
• Interpret data and state conclusions.

Outline: The student will meet regularly with faculty throughout the Elective and be guided to published and on-line resources to meet their individually negotiated learning objectives. The student will participate in on-going research within the Dept of Family & Community Medicine or conduct an appropriate part of a research project/process of their own development.

Director: Pamela Wiseman, MD

Faculty: Pamela Wiseman, MD

Quota: 2-3 students/year max

Time Offered: Blocks 1-10 by special arrangement

Prerequisite: Approval of Course Director based on proposal for research project, preparation for project proposed, and availability of faculty for mentoring.

Method of Evaluating Student Performance: Students will receive individual mentoring by faculty and on-going feedback and guidance throughout the elective. Faculty will provide constructive criticism on documents written by the student related to the research tasks undertaken (e.g. plan for a literature search & review with search terms; research protocol; analysis plan; etc.). Students will complete a self-evaluation tool at the beginning and end of the Elective.

How is this course evaluated by the Course Director: Process review by faculty during and following each elective. Student evaluations and change in student self-evaluation during the Elective.

How is this course evaluated by students: Evaluation form to be completed at conclusion of Elective. Change in self-evaluation during the Elective.

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Community Medicine Electives (Off-Campus)

During this off-campus block, each student will be involved for a period of one month in a community based primary care practice. There are two options for this elective:

A. Local placement sites (1 month): Local placements are available with New Orleans Public Clinics, Health Care for the Homeless, and other participating preceptors and practices in the Greater New Orleans area. 

B. National and Regional (1 month): The students selecting this alternate offering will spend the month at one of the approved sites. National sites are: West Virginia-Appalachia; South Dakota-Sioux; New Mexico-Espanola; North Carolina-Cherokee; Washington State-Makah. Regional sites are: Louisiana Community Health Clinics (Franklin, Lake Charles, Natchitoches, Sicily Island), and participating primary care preceptors in Louisiana and Mississippi.

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