Return to Doctor of Medicine Core Courses
M80 InterDis 807 Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
The elective is designed to provide the student with a broad introduction to the field of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Major objective of this clinical elective is to achieve greater knowledge of the neurological and musculoskeletal diseases and their treatment, and gain understanding of basic principles of rehabilitation. The student will learn the clinical and rehabilitative care of patients with strokes, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord trauma and diseases, and limb amputations. Student will gain clinical skills in evaluating in management of functional impairments. Students will be expected to participate in daily rounds on inpatient rehabilitation units with the clinical care team, follow 3-5 patients, attend multidisciplinary team conferences and family meetings, attend outpatient rehabilitation clinics in spinal cord, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and amputee. Teaching and supervision is provided by the physiatry and neurology faculty of the Division of Rehabilitation. Rehabilitation and neurology residents are involved in student teaching as well. Students are required to participate in didactic teaching conferences within the PM&R residency. This rotation is particularly useful for students considering careers in rehabilitation, neurology, geriatrics, primary care, neurosurgery, or any other field that will require experience in the evaluation and management of patients with physical impairment and disabilities.
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M80 InterDis 809 Ambulatory Care - Jacqueline Maritz Lung Center
The Jacqueline Maritz Lung Center houses the ambulatory care activities of the Divisions of Pulmonary Medicine, Thoracic Surgery, and Allergy/Immunology, as well as the pulmonary function laboratory. The student will rotate through: 1. both general pulmonary and subspecialty clinics in Pulmonary Medicine (cystic fibrosis, transplantation, emphysema, etc.), 2. the Thoracic Surgery clinic, and 3. the Allergy/Immunology clinic. Students will also interpret pulmonary function tests. Chest imaging is also emphasized in the evaluation process. The rotation can be streamlined to meet areas of emphasis desired by individual students.
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M80 InterDis 823 Anatomy of Health - Community Navigator
Four weeks of elective credit are awarded to students for this experience. Two weeks will include formal in-class work, and the other two weeks will have flexibility to be scheduled into students' schedule and can be completed over the following three months. Additional information about the flexible portion of the schedule will be provided to students by the course director. This course will be available to select at Pit Night. Are you interested in community engagement as an elective opportunity? Anatomy of Health is a four-week elective course structured to provide skills and experience in local community engagement. It requires two weeks of scheduled community engagement learning prerequisites, which will focus on social and structural determinants of health, principles of community engagement, and a review of Community Health Needs Assessment and the Community Health Improvement Plan for St. Louis. After this experience, students have the next three months to collaborate with a faculty "champion" working with a small group of Phase 1 students to provide insight and "navigation" through scheduled community-based collaborations and activities, classroom work, and direct mentoring in an effort to guide these early medical students in their own understanding of community health needs and engagement. Interested students will need to set up a brief meeting with Audrey Coolman and/or Dr. Punch to provide insight to why they are interested.
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M80 InterDis 827 Introduction to Global Health
This is a cross-disciplinary "crash course" in global health for students considering a career in global health and should be particularly useful for those students planning to complete international electives before graduation or during residency. The course consists of a mix of lectures, workshops, discussions, debates, laboratory sessions, clinics, and simulation labs for two weeks. Topics will include significant coverage of high-burden infectious and tropical diseases (primarily case-based) in addition to discussion of emerging and neglected global health topics including mental health, non-communicable diseases, radiology, and maternal health. Active participation in all activities and discussions is expected in order to obtain credit for this course. The course is team taught by faculty from around the medical school with extensive experience in global health and will include opportunities to network with faculty and residents actively engaged in clinical, research, policy, and implementation work around the world. This course has been run for two years previously for residents only and now is being opened up to senior medical students as well. No specific clinical requirements or call is required. Attendance and active participation for each session throughout the two weeks is required and students should not schedule residency interviews or other time off during this block.
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M80 InterDis 835 Interprofessional Hotspotting
We are looking for ONE Washington University Medical Student interested in joining an interprofessional team of students that will learn how to take care of patients with complex medical and social needs. This student will join the Interprofessional Student Hotspotting Learning Collaborative (ISHLC), which is an annual program run by the Camden Coalition that trains interdisciplinary teams of professional students from schools across the country to learn to help patients with complex medical and social needs. The Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education (CIPE) at the Washington University Medical Campus will send ONE team this year to the Interprofessional Student Hotspotting Learning Collaborative. The team will consist of one nursing student from Barnes-Jewish Goldfarb School of Nursing, one occupational therapy student from the WashU OT school, one medical student from WashU School of Medicine, and one pharmacy student from St Louis College of Pharmacy. This team will learn from and take care of high-risk patients from September 2020 through April 2021, with an estimated time commitment of two hours per week.
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M80 InterDis 849 Fourth-Year Capstone
The fourth-year Capstone course is highly structured. In order to provide students with the absolute best experience possible, students are REQUIRED to attend all sessions. In general, the morning sessions will start at 8:00 am and run until approximately 12 noon. Afternoon sessions will generally run from 1:00 pm until about 5:00 pm. The afternoon sessions are typically hands-on activities which are faculty/staff intensive. By the end of this four-week course, students should be able to demonstrate improved cognitive and clinical skills needed to enter the internship year of graduate medical training. Topics to be covered include acute clinical problems commonly faced on the inpatient service or emergency room, review of key diagnostic testing, basic procedural skills and patient and family communications regarding informed consent and end-of-life issues. Coursework will be divided between self-study, didactic, small group discussions, hands-on skills practice, and simulation. Parts of the course will be tailored to specialty interests. Students will be assessed by performance on simulation exercises and a written exam.
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M80 InterDis 851 The Business of Medicine
This two-week interactive course enhances medical students' Healthcare System Literacy, i.e. their understanding of how the healthcare system is structured, financed, operated, and regulated. They will learn how clinical decisions and options are tied to market forces, business structures, and health policy. From clinical practice management issues up to 'big picture' views of healthcare, the course modules help prepare students for the challenges they will face in their own practices as well as for leadership roles in improving patient care on a large scale. The course will be a blend of case-method sessions, targeted mini-lectures, expert panels, and field trips, all designed to invite student participation and engagement with representatives from a broad spectrum of the healthcare industry.
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M80 InterDis 863 Mind-Body Stress Reduction
Mind-Body Stress Reduction is a program that uses intensive training in mindfulness meditation to teach people how to: - Reduce stress and anxiety - Increase focus & concentration - Manage health problems - Live more fully productive lives Mind-Body Stress Reduction utilizes both formal and informal mindfulness meditation practices. Mindfulness can be described as non-judgmental, non-striving, moment-by-moment attention. It is often called present-centered awareness, a state of consciousness that has been shown to have health benefits for the autonomic nervous system, to increase immune function, and to increase alpha and theta brain waves, which are present in deep states of relaxation.
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