About Block III

Block III, which spans years three and four of the College of Human Medicine's Legacy Curriculum, is comprised of clerkships, physician-supervised learning experiences in which students work with patients at clinical health care sites.

Required clerkships span 52 weeks, while elective clerkships span 24 weeks.

All required Block III clerkships are completed at one of the college's seven community-based program sites, located throughout Michigan, including Flint, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Midland Regional, Southeast Michigan, Traverse City, and the Upper Peninsula Region. Students are required to attend a week-long orientation scheduled in each community prior to the commencement of clerkships.The required clerkships in family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, surgery, and psychiatry involve both hospital-based and ambulatory care sites, including geriatric centers, physicians' offices, outpatient clinics, and patients' homes.

Advanced clerkships in internal medicine and surgery follow the specialty clerkships. Concurrent with the clerkships, all students are required to participate in the Core Competency experience that provides students with structured learning seminars on core interdisciplinary topics important to the care and health management of patients. These topics include the virtuous physician (ethics and professionalism), critical analysis of the medical literature, health disparities, therapeutics, and occupational medicine.

As a community-based medical school, the College of Human Medicine is uniquely positioned to provide students with comprehensive training in clinical settings that most closely parallel the environment in which many physicians practice. Each community program is aligned with area hospitals and outpatient facilities that join Michigan State University in creating a rich educational environment for students. All community programs offer electives in both specialty and subspecialty areas. Research opportunities are also available. At the conclusion of the required clerkships, students take elective clerkships that can include:

• Advanced elective experiences
• International elective clerkships, such as studying comparative medicine in third world countries
• Elective options that provide students with opportunities to explore career choices more fully
• Electives offered at any of the seven community campuses are available to all College of Human Medicine students