DESCRIPTION:

Senior students with a demonstrated interest in Family Medicine and service to underserved communities will have the opportunity to work at an advanced level in multiple inner-city ambulatory settings affiliated with the Center for Family and Community Medicine.

A women's health focus is available for this elective.  A student with specific interest should indicate this on the application form.

     OBJECTIVES:

Learners will increase their level of competence in community-oriented primary care, including the interdisciplinary diagnosis and treatment of common ambulatory problems in the biopsychosocial context. Learners will explore the differences between generalist and specialist reasoning in health care in order to better understand their future roles as Family Medicine clinicians and as advocates.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE:

Students will be directly involved in the evaluation and treatment of ambulatory patients in patient care sites affiliated with New York-Presbyterian Hospital, including the Family Practice Center of the Family Medicine Residency Program. The student should expect to gain broad experience serving diverse populations in terms of socioeconomic, linguistic, ethnic and cultural variables. Students will work under the supervision of Family Medicine faculty, and will be expected to independently evaluate patients and formulate treatment and follow-up plans for review with their preceptors. In addition to protected time for directed study each week, students will attend all educational conferences, and will have opportunities to attend inpatient rounds of the Family Medicine service and participate in home visits. One half day experiences will also be provided in a Sports Medicine private practice and at the Al Hirschfeld Actor's Free Clinic during the month.

NOTE:  All students must have written approval from the Center for Family and Community Medicine, before registering for this course at P&S. Students interested in our electives should first review the "important requirements".

LOCATION:  Columbia University Medical Center, Farrell Community Health Center, 610 West 158th Street, New York, NY 10032.

COURSE DIRECTOR:  Carmen Dominguez-Rafer, M.D.

     SITE DIRECTOR: Susan Bowers-Johnson, M.D.

GIVEN:  All year

MAXIMUM:  2 student per month

FEEDBACK:  Students will receive formal feedback in the middle and the end of the rotation.

EVALUATION:  The course director will compile a final evaluation based upon the evaluations by all preceptors.

COURSE NUMBER:  FM01P

DESCRIPTION:

This advanced clinical clerkship on the Family Medicine Inpatient Service at New York-Presbyterian/ Allen Hospital will permit learners to understand the role of hospital care as part of a broad continuum of services that constitute comprehensive, generalist primary care.

OBJECTIVES:

Learners will function as "acting interns" on a busy primary care inpatient service under direct supervision of faculty and senior residents. The Family Medicine Inpatient Service represents the hospital arm of a large diverse generalist medical practice at New York-Presbyterian, and students will be expected to understand the role of inpatient care as part of the continuity of care provided in family practice.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE:

Students will work directly with the Inpatient Coordinator and Inpatient Service Attending at the Allen Pavilion of New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Students will participate in daily rounds as an integral member of the inpatient team, and will be directly responsible for admissions and the care of their inpatient panel. In addition, the student will spend one of the four weeks on the night float service with a senior supervising resident. Attendance at all Family Medicine seminars and conferences will be required.

NOTE:  All students must have written approval from the Center of Family and Community Medicine, before registering for this course at P&S. Students interested in our electives should first review the "important requirements".

LOCATION:  New York-Presbyterian Hospital: Columbia University Medical Center, Allen Hospital; 5141 Broadway New York, NY10034

COURSE DIRECTOR: Joanne Dempster, M.D.

GIVEN:  Every month except July

MAXIMUM:  1 student per month

FEEDBACK:  Students will receive ongoing feedback from the Inpatient Coordinator and senior residents.

EVALUATION:  The course director will compile a final e valuation based upon formal evaluations by faculty and senior residents.

COURSE NUMBER:  FM02P

DESCRIPTION:

Family Medicine scholarship and research covers a wide spectrum of topics and methods.  This reflects the broad, interdisciplinary knowledge base and interests of physicians in this specialty.

OBJECTIVES:

To introduce learners to the Family and Community Medicine research literature and to the research methods family medicine investigators use.  Areas of inquiry such as community-oriented primary care, evaluation research, education research, community based participatory research, practice based research networks, quality management and health services research will be described. Scholarship and research activities and methods such as systemic literature reviews, qualitative analysis, narrative medicine, large data-base analysis, and cluster randomized clinical trials will be explored. Students will become familiar with some of the theoretical models that family medicine investigators use to develop their hypothesis and intervention.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE:

Students will read representative research articles from academic family medicine journals.  They will meet with faculty in the Columbia University Center for Family and Community Medicine to discuss articles written by family physicians to gain insight about Family Medicine scholarship and research methods.  Students may be assigned to work with faculty on an ongoing research, scholarship or quality improvement project at Family Medicine at Farrell CHC, the Family Medicine inpatient service at The Allen Pavilion or other Center for Family and Community Medicine sites. Students who take the course for two months may develop their own research question or research project proposal with faculty supervision, and prepare an abstract for the proposal stating the principle aims, goals and measurable objectives, and proposed methodology.

NOTE:  All students must have written approval of the course coordinator, Dr. Craig Irvine, before registering for this course at P&S. Students interested in our electives should first review the "important requirements".

LOCATION: (CUMC) Center for Family and Community Medicine, 100 Haven, 27C

COURSE DIRECTOR:  Richard Younge, M.D., M.P.H.

GIVEN:  1-2 months from February through June.  Other times by special permission.

MAXIMUM:  2 students per month

FEEDBACK:  Students will receive ongoing feedback during weekly meetings with the course director.

EVALUATION: The course director will compile a final evaluation based upon completion of the curriculum in research methods and the submission of a final research proposal abstract.

COURSE NUMBER: FM90P (Family and Community Medicine Research)