The clinical curriculum (OMS-III and OMS-IV years) will consist of mostly hospital and office-based training. All clinical adjunct faculty and clinical preceptors are approved by LMU-DCOM based on credentialing processes. The clinical curricula will reflect the mission of the college through planning and evaluation in the Curriculum Committee and the input, review, and approval of the Dean’s Council. Students must follow the policies and procedures outlined in the Clinical Rotations Manual for clinical rotations.
Educational activities consist of an online didactic component and a patient care component. The Office of Clinical Education is composed of an experienced team including the Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs, Associate/Assistant Deans of Clinical Medicine, Director of Clinical Affairs, Director of Clinical Partnerships, Rotations Director, Clinical Affiliations Manager, Clinical Relations Manager, Clinical Relations Coordinator, and Rotation Coordinators to ensure the execution of affiliation agreements with hospital sites, development of educational standards, and assignment of students to rotation sites. Student rotation evaluations, self-assessments, core site evaluations, and site visits ensure that consistent educational objectives are being met at each rotation site.
Core rotation site assignments are determined prior to the end of the OMS-II year through a schedule optimization program (“The Lottery”) based on individual student’s ranking of each core site. LMU-DCOM will provide assigned core rotations for the students to complete their OMS-III rotations. The student may elect to do Selective and Elective rotations elsewhere if the site/rotation is approved at least sixty (60) days in advance by the Office of Clinical Education. All rotations are in four (4) week blocks unless otherwise specified.
To be eligible to begin OMS-III clinical rotations, students must successfully complete the entire OMS-II curriculum. To be eligible to begin OMS-IV clinical rotations, students must successfully complete all components of the OMS-III curriculum.
Students are required to submit proof of health insurance, urine drug screen, influenza vaccine, and PPD test yearly in their CastleBranch. Additional requirements can be found in the Student Handbook and Clinical Rotations Manual.
Most rotation sites will require proof of COVID vaccination or exemption. Students will upload documentation to E*Value. Students who are unable to comply with a training site’s vaccination requirement(s), due to declining the vaccine or inability to obtain a valid exemption accepted by the training site, may not be able to complete clinical rotations.
Curriculum Design
Students will complete twenty-one (21) clinical rotations throughout their OMS-III and OMS-IV years. Each clinical rotation is a four-week block, represented as a single (1) course on the student’s transcript. The OMS-III year is comprised of eleven (11) four-week rotation blocks.
The OMS-IV year is comprised of ten (10) four-week rotation blocks. Students have one (1) four-week block of independent study in OMS-III year and one (1) four-week block of independent study in OMS-IV year. Didactic activities provided by LMU-DCOM will be completed in addition to and concurrent with clinical experiences and are a required part of the curriculum. Didactic activities assigned by the Core Site and independent preceptors must also be completed by the student.
Core and Required Rotations
The OMS-III Core Rotations are Internal Medicine I, Internal Medicine II, General Surgery, Pediatrics, Family Medicine/Primary Care I, Family Medicine/Primary Care II, and the Core GME rotation. The OMS-III Required rotations are Psychiatry and Obstetrics & Gynecology. The OMS- IV Required rotations are Emergency Medicine and Rural/Underserved Outpatient Care. The OMS -IV curriculum is intended to build on the foundational experience provided in the OMS -III year. These experiences are in settings where more demands for independence can be expected of the senior medical student.
Selective Rotations
There is one Selective rotation during the OMS III year. The Surgical Selective can be fulfilled with one of the surgical subspecialties noted below:
- Cardiothoracic Surgery, Ear, Nose, & Throat, General Surgery, Gynecological Surgery, Neurological Surgery, Ophthalmology, Orthopedic Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Surgical Critical Care, Trauma Surgery, Urology, Vascular Surgery.
Electives
Elective rotation experiences are meant to offer the opportunity to gain insight and experience into the vast array of medical education experiences particular to each student’s interest. It may also be time used in exploring residency training opportunities. Students will have two (2) electives in the OMS-III year and eight (8) electives in the OMS-IV year. Up to two Elective rotations during the OMS-IV year may be done outside the United States with prior approval of the Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs. This can only occur in locations deemed safe by the US Department of State and in accordance with COVID policy guidelines. Students can do no more than six (6) Elective/Selective rotations in the same specialty.