This elective introduces student to the field of medical toxicology by involving them in the care of poisoned patients here at Children’s Wisconsin and Froedtert Hospital, as well as throughout the state of Wisconsin. Students report to the Wisconsin Poison Center, where they will work directly with Specialists in Poison Information (SPIs) as well as Clinical (PharmD-ABAT) and Medical (MD) Toxicologists.

As part of a team including pharmacists, residents, and fellows, they will gather information and help to formulate treatment plans for medication overdoses, plant exposures, envenomations, household chemical ingestions, and other toxicologic conditions. Our rotation has a daily didactic component, providing direct education from experts in the field on both common and rare poisonings. Students will also prepare a 30-minute lecture on an approved topic at the end of their rotation.

Medical toxicology is highly relevant to medical students interested in pursuing a broad range of medical specialties, including but not limited to pediatrics, emergency medicine, psychiatry, critical care and many others, or to anyone looking to gain a stronger grounding in pharmacology.

This 4-week elective is held between September and May.

The Department of Emergency Medicine offers an elective in EMS Medicine for 3rd and 4th year medical students. The elective includes a well-rounded experience in all aspects of prehospital medical care. Our EMS Division provides medical oversight for urban, rural and state-wide EMS and disaster preparedness organizations and as a student you will have the opportunity to learn about EMS in all these different settings. You will also get to work alongside our EMS Fellow, a physician currently learning more about how to be an EMS physician.

Specific opportunities during the elective may vary as some EMS activities do not occur each month. Potential rotation experiences may include:

Clinical EMS Medicine
Ambulance, Flight and Physician Response Vehicle ride along experiences

Quality Improvement
Participate in EMS QI projects, attend clinical case review meetings

EMS Training/Education
Develop and implement training for EMS providers

EMS System Design
Attend state physician advisory committee meetings

Medical Oversight
Review EMS patient care guidelines

Disaster Preparedness
Participate in local disaster drills

Students will attend weekly Emergency Medicine Residency Grand Rounds in addition to EMS Grand Rounds for our fellowship program. Students will also be required to participate in the EMS Resident Review Meeting at the end of the month, where EM residents currently completing an EMS experience meet to discuss concepts of quality improvement, clinical care, and training as it pertains to EMS.

This 4-week elective is held between September and December.

This is a new elective exploring population health in the Emergency Department and addressing the social determinants of health, emphasizing the biopsychosocial disease model. The curriculum will focus on the care of vulnerable populations including patients who are injured, have psychiatric disease, have chronic disease, are in prison, or are refugees. It is open to any fourth-year medical students who are interested regardless of specialty choice.

The course is comprised of a variety of learning experiences:

1. ED shadowing experience: Students will meet a patient in triage and stay with them throughout their journey through the ER.
2. Longitudinal component: Through partnership with the Enhanced Care and Hospital Discharge Program, students will follow a patient longitudinally throughout their month, and follow the services from primary care meant to keep patients from having to use the ED.
3. ED-based component: Students will have the opportunity to shadow our ED-based colleagues who focus on addressing social determinants of health, including social work, and case management.
4. Small group didactics: Students will become competent in doing a social determinants of health assessment which will include case studies, mock patient interactions, and literature assessment.

All students will be required to do a final capstone project.

This 4-week elective is held once a year in December. Accommodations for residency interviews can be made.

We are proud to offer an emergency medicine point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) elective for 4th year medical students with a strong interest in emergency medicine. POCUS is an integral component of emergency department care used to aid in resuscitation, safely guide procedures, assess trauma patients, and make timely medical decisions. Ultrasound is performed at the bedside by the clinician taking care of the patient and provides information not obtainable by physical exam alone. Education in ultrasound is considered a fundamental component in emergency medicine residency training. By participating in our elective, students will develop a strong foundation in POCUS on which to build upon going into residency.

The rotation takes place in our level 1 adult trauma center at Froedtert Hospital and the Milwaukee VA. Our sites provide a high volume of patients with a wide array of acuity, providing for ample ultrasound scanning opportunities. During the elective our goal is to ensure students will learn the basic operations of an ultrasound machine, the psychomotor skills needed to acquire images, the ability to identify relevant anatomy, and when to incorporate POCUS into patient care. Students will receive direct 1-on-1 scanning with ultrasound fellowship trained faculty, scan independently, and work closely with other emergency department faculty and residents. In addition to scanning patients in the department students will participate in weekly ultrasound image review, didactics, general emergency department conference, along with time to complete reading on fundamental topics.

Students will be assessed on their participation, proficiency in ultrasound image acquisition, objective testing, and a short end of the rotation presentation.

This 4-week elective is held between July and November. A Standard Letter of Evaluation (SLOE) can be provided for students going into emergency medicine.

The practice of medicine is evolving rapidly. The sheer volume of data leading to advances in medicine it daunting. Medical students and physicians alike spend a tremendous amount of time and effort keeping up with the evidence and honing their practical skills. At the same time, we are seeing rapid growth in adventure travel and individuals pushing the body's physical limits and outdoor gear capabilities in austere environments. Despite the vast amount of knowledge and skills we collect during our medical training we often struggle to treat individuals in such environments.

The Wilderness Medicine Student Elective at the Medical College of Wisconsin introduces students to the challenges encountered in austere environments. At the end of the course, they will have basic knowledge about the epidemiology of injuries and illness in the wilderness setting, the ability to prevent, and when necessary appropriately respond to, medical situations in an environment with very limited resources. The course is comprised of a combination of didactics both in the classroom and outdoors, simulation, and hands-on training of both wilderness survival skills and patient management. There will be a required regionally based camping trip as well as a required trip to Ozark National Scenic Riverways for further skill building. The final course evaluation will be based on a combination of professionalism, mastery of taught skills as well as final written and practical examinations.

This 4-week elective is held once a year in April.