4th Year Ambulatory Elective Rotation

FPM 426 Ambulatory Family Medicine Clerkship

The office based Family Medicine Clerkship primarily uses the offices of the three UCSD FM Faculty Practices: Hillcrest at 4th & Lewis, Scripps Ranch, or Genesee “La Jolla” but occasionally in the offices of one of our community partners. Also students spend a significant amount of time with our underserved Free Clinic Project, mentoring first year medical students and treating uninsured patients at non-UCSD community sites.

A typical schedule might be half a day in the faculty practice with the other half as another experience such as underserved care in the evening (Mondays downtown SD) or an afternoon, or a didactic session on occupational medicine, or perhaps an observation of physical therapy, nutrition, physical therapy, or acupuncture / traditional Chinese medicine. Core objectives include mastering the fundamental conditions of managing hypertension, diabetes, asthma, and depression.

Students are given responsibility to interview and examine patients independently then present to the faculty attending, and also to observe various faculty attending's in their practices. Patient populations vary across sites and among faculty members, adding to the diversity which defines the field of Family Medicine, from newborns to geriatrics, prenatal patients to office procedures and occasional sports or integrative medicine. Students must write and enter notes into the electronic medical record, read selected chapters of the textbook, and give a final presentation.

The length of the rotation is four weeks, start and end dates are the Academic Calendar per UCSD School of Medicine. There is not a lot of flexibility in scheduling, as this rotation is in high demand by UCSD fourth year students. Hours vary, but generally are from 8:00 to 5:30 PM with Monday evenings as late as 10:30 PM at times. A car is essential as students must travel to various sites. Student housing and meals are not provided. Dress is professional office, white lab coat expected.

Contact Information 

If you have any further questions or concerns, please contact visitingstudents@ucsd.edu.

UC San Diego School of Medicine Visiting Student Program
All interested visiting students should apply for the program through the AAMC Visiting Student Application Service (VSAS).