Clerkship Curriculum

Your third year begins with the Clinical Resources and Skills for the Hospital (CRASH) course. CRASH reinforces the skills you learned during the preclerkship years and introduces you to new skills, including the following: 

• Basic life support
• Advanced communication skills
• Reading electrocardiography and X-rays
• Lots of M4 advice! 

The core clerkships are organized into three super-blocks of 16 weeks each. Elective opportunities are available within two of these super blocks.

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Required core clerkships:

• Internal medicine (eight weeks)
• Pediatrics (eight weeks)
• Surgery (eight weeks)
• Obstetrics and gynecology (six weeks)
• Neurology (four weeks)
• Psychiatry (four weeks)
• Primary care (four weeks): family medicine or internal medicine
• Optional time available for elective clerkships (six weeks)

Core clerkships are primarily offered at Rush University Medical Center, Rush sites all over the Chicagoland area, and John H. Stroger Jr., Hospital of Cook County. Stroger Hospital is the flagship hospital of the Cook County Health and Hospital System. Stroger Hospital is the safety-net hospital for Chicago-area residents, many of whom are either under-insured or uninsured. There are often cases that are unique and more advanced than those seen in university, community and private hospitals.  Stroger has the busiest emergency department in Chicago and one of the largest Level I trauma centers in the United States.

The Primary Care clerkship takes advantage of outpatient clinical sites across the Chicagoland Area and is designed to provide an interactive opportunity to experience outpatient primary care.

Rush Integrated Clinical Experiences - RICE

In this course, you will to develop the necessary skills to become a physician who is able to excel in clinical medicine, education, research and service. Your third year is a time of immersion in clinical medicine and this course will help you connect clinical skills and knowledge to the many roles a physician plays, including scholar, leader, collaborator, educator, and advocate, among others.  

The course runs the length of your M3 year and convenes once a month to cover content within one of the Roles that relates to patient care. 

Step 2 CK Pass Rate Trends – National compared to RMC

National data from USMLE

In year four, you complete the Emergency Medicine Core Clerkship and a sub-internship in medicine, pediatrics, family medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, or surgery. In the remaining time, you can explore areas of interests through electives.

There is also a required Clinical Bridge Course that provides a bootcamp-like experience over four weeks in March, just prior to graduation. This course sharpens already acquired skills in preparation for residency. 

Electives

Students are required to take 24 weeks of electives, with 20 of those weeks being in direct patient care.  There are over 80 electives available within all the departments of Rush to design your M4 years to your specific educational needs.  Students also have the option to create an individualized elective with a Rush faculty member to create the educational experience.

Many students choose to do 4 weeks of non-patient care electives - some of your choices include:

• Research elective - 4 weeks to spend in an departmental individualized research program
• Medical Education elective - 4 weeks to spend designing curriculum, working with clinician educators to deliver pre-clerkship curriculum.

Currently, about 60% of our M4 students choose to do an Away Elective and Rush participates in the AAMC VSLO application service to help students navigate this process.

Transition to Residency 

In this course, you will to further develop higher level skills to become a physician who is able to excel in clinical medicine, education, research and service. Your fourth year is a time of specialization of skills as well as residency application preparation and this course will help you get the knowledge to be successful in your match and to further prepare for your transition to residency. 

The course runs the length of your M4 year and convenes every other month to cover content within one of the Roles that relates to patient care and to provide important Student Affairs updates relating to residency application, interviews, and the residency match. 

This course also provides time for you to study and take the Step 2 examination and to prepare your residency application and interview at invited programs. 

You work in the Rush Center for Clinical Skills and Simulation throughout your clerkship education. 

Using mannequins and task trainers, you complete activities such as the following:

• Delivering a baby in the obstetrics and gynecology clerkship
• Perform a spinal tap in the neurology clerkship  
• Treat an unstable patient in the emergency medicine clerkship

Each M3 clerkship has an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) as an assessment and there is an M4 OSCE to help ensure that each student has the skills needed to be successful as a resident.