Medical College of Wisconsin Family and Community Medicine - Medical Student Education

Welcome to the Division of Medical Student Education in the Department of Family and Community Medicine! We are committed to teaching and representing the principles of Family Medicine in our courses and student enrichment opportunities.

Overview

For more information on any of these opportunities, please contact Leslie Ruffalo, PhD, at lruffalo@mcw.edu or (414) 955-8710.

Learning Communities
FMLC Goal
FMLC Opportunities and Activities
FMLC Research and Career Mentoring Network

Learning Communities

Learning communities are “intentional communities” that engage students and faculty to enhance learning through a common purpose, similar interests and learning experiences.

Our “student-type” Family Medicine Learning Community is focused on:

Fostering interest in Family Medicine through research and career mentoring opportunities
Social activities and networking functions

Successful learning communities are collaborative. The faculty and staff in the DFCM Medical Student Education Division are dedicated to working with MCW student organizations and individual students to foster student connection, excellence, learning, leadership, and service.

FMLC Goal

The goal of our Family Medicine Learning Community (FMLC) is to foster student connection, excellence, learning, leadership and service in primary care and Family Medicine. The FMLC brings together students interested in Family Medicine across all four years of medical school with MCW Family Medicine faculty, residents and community family physicians. The objectives of the FMLC are to:

Encourage students to explore the dynamic field of Family Medicine through formal and informal activities, working closely with each other and Family Physician mentors/advisors.
Support students in their professional development regardless of their ultimate specialty choice.

FMLC Opportunities and Activities

Below is a list of FMLC Opportunities:

Service Learning
Many of these opportunities are provided through MCW’s National Award-winning Family Medicine Student Association (FMSA). FMSA is a student-run organization that coordinates a number of worthwhile important community projects. The DFCM provides a faculty liaison and staff support.
Scholarly Concentration and Research support for projects with a Primary Care/Family Medicine emphasis
Scholarly Concentration and Research support for literature reviews on topics important to primary care

FMLC Research and Career Mentoring Network

The Department of Family and Community Medicine faculty are eager to provide mentorship to students. Two ways that we do that are:

Scholarly Concentration and Research Mentorship
Family and Community Medicine faculty mentor many students across all the MCW Scholarly Concentrations. Faculty also mentor summer research projects as well as offer several research electives. Depending on your scholarly concentration, your scholarly concentration directors may have additional recommendations of specific family medicine faculty with active projects. If you are interested in connecting with a Family Medicine advisor for your scholarly concentration, please contact Dr. Leslie Ruffalo (lruffalo@mcw.edu).

Career Mentorship
We enjoy opportunities to share the exciting field of family medicine with you. Whether you are currently early in your specialty choice exploration and want to learn more about family medicine, or whether you have made the (fantastic) choice to apply to a family medicine residency and need mentorship in your application process, we are here for you. For students in their third year of medical school selecting their clinical advisor, please use the form below and we would be thrilled to match you with a clinical advisor to help you design your fourth-year schedule and provide mentorship through the residency application process. We are very excited to meet you!

We are always exploring new ways to bring faculty, staff, residents, and students together, so please fill out our Family Medicine Interest Form to receive information about upcoming events.

If you interested in meeting with a family medicine faculty member, please fill out the career mentorship form.

Family Medicine Clerkship

This 14-week required clerkship gives all students the chance to experience Family Medicine and their main opportunity to learn primary care skills. Students work with our expert preceptors one day each week for 14 consecutive weeks. Our students see a broad range of patients, learn and practice real-world management of common medical problems, and embody the role of a Family Physician in the community. In the longitudinal format, they’ll be able to experience continuity of care and can support the care patients receive by calling patients with results and resources, accomplishing population health tasks, embarking on quality improvement initiatives, and otherwise supporting their preceptors, their practice, and patients.

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Clerkship Overview

Students will be assigned to preceptors based on areas or populations of interest and scheduling availability. They will take part in ambulatory Pediatric and Internal Medicine rotations simultaneously with the FM clerkship in the 14-week Ambulatory block. Prior to the Ambulatory block, students will take part in a 2-week Spiral block in which they will be oriented to the rotation and undergo certain fundamental trainings such as ambulatory procedure skills and motivational interviewing. In addition to the clinical-based learning of the FM clerkship, students will participate in 8 team-based learning sessions fundamental to FM and led by expert facilitators.

Clerkship Goals

First and foremost, the Family Medicine Clerkship seeks to provide an outstanding learning experience for all medical students. More specifically, the Family Medicine Clerkship intends to:

Demonstrate the value of primary care as an integral part of any health care system.
Teach an effective approach to the evaluation and initial management of acute presentations commonly seen in the primary care setting.
Teach an effective approach to the management of chronic illnesses that are commonly seen in the primary care setting.
Teach an effective approach to conduct a wellness visit for a patient of any age or gender.
Model the principles of Family Medicine as an effective, evidence-based, holistic, accessible, longitudinal form of primary care.
Support learner development in communication, physical exam, assessment, and clinical reasoning skills.

Clerkship Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this unit, a student will be able to:

Patient Care

Gather information, formulate differential diagnoses, and propose plans for the initial evaluation and management of patients with common presentations in the office setting.
Manage follow-up visits with patients having one or more common chronic diseases in the office setting.
Demonstrate competency in advanced elicitation of history, communication, physical examination, and clinical reasoning skills.
Integrate socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental factors into patient care.

Knowledge for Practice

Recognize symptoms, signs, and differential diagnoses of common acute and chronic illnesses as they present in primary care.
Develop evidence-based diagnostic and management plans for common acute and chronic illnesses.
Develop evidence-based health promotion/disease prevention plans for patients of any age or gender.
Integrate population factors of heritage, environment, and disease prevalence into patient care.

Practice-Based Learning and Improvement

Develop proficiency in efficiently assessing and using computer-based resources for improving patient care.

Interpersonal and Communication Skills

Demonstrate skills in motivational interviewing.
Demonstrate proficiency in patient education for acute and chronic conditions.
Tailor clinical communication to the appropriate health literacy level of the patient.

Systems-Based Practice

Discuss the principles of family medicine care.
Discuss the critical role of family physicians within any health care system.

Interprofessional Collaboration

Identify the role of family physicians and other members of the health care team in the Interdisciplinary/Medical Home model of comprehensive, personalized care.

Personal and Professional Development

Promote professional self-awareness and self-care. Demonstrate and promote emotional development thru critical reflection on clinical stories.

Professionalism

Demonstrate a basic understanding of the professional and ethical issues facing family physicians.
Continuous effort at striving to fulfill expectations of the patients, colleagues, and members of the healthcare team.

Clerkship Orientation

Milwaukee
To occur during spiral week preceding Ambulatory Block.

Green Bay
Each block of the Family Medicine clerkship begins with an orientation with Green Bay site director. Your Green Bay coordinator will notify you further instructions.

Clinical Site Orientation
For all sites, we will work with your site coordinator and/or your preceptor and coordinate the schedule at that practice site and the schedule with other physicians at that site. The physician’s office staff at the clinical practice site will provide an orientation to the practice, to the office staff, to other physicians, and to that practice's schedule.

Questions? Contact Jenny Her, Education Program Coordinator, at jher@mcw.edu, or Bryan Johnston, Clerkship Director, at bjohnston@mcw.edu.

Rotation Sites Assignments

All students will be assigned to a clinical practice with a family physician who will be their site preceptor. Sites include:

Family Medicine Residency Program sites affiliated with the MCW Department of Family and Community Medicine. Specific sites include Columbia-St. Mary’s Family Health Center, All Saints Family Health Center, Town Hall Health Center, and the Fox Valley/Appleton Family Health Center.
Other select non-MCW Family Medicine Residency Program sites.
Froedtert & MCW primary care clinics.

Students will receive an email to rank subspecialty placement prior to the start of their rotation. Request from students to any of the above locations are considered and when possible accommodated. Students will be notified of the clinical practice assignments in advance by the clerkship coordinator. Clinical site placement is managed by our program manager. All students will be assigned to a clinical practice with a volunteer community family physician (or group).

M3 & M4 Electives

The Department of Family & Community Medicine offers a variety of electives that exposes students to real life experiences and gives them the training and knowledge to a wide introduction of family medicine. Please visit the course catalog for current offered family medicine courses.

Electives are offered by the Department of Family and Community Medicine to medical students. Contact the Registrar's Office at (414) 955-8873 for more details.

To view the M4 course catalog, you must sign into OASIS. Additional information is available on the Registrar's website.

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FMED-D3118/D4118 - Family Medicine as Counterculture

Family & Community Medicine
MCW Hub for Collaborative Medicine, A2340-4
Faculty Director: Brian Johnston, MD
Course Coordinator: Laura Johnson

FMED-D3120/D4120 - Family Medicine Medley

Family & Community Medicine
MCW Hub for Collaborative Medicine, A2340-4
Faculty Director: Lauren Maher, MD
Course Coordinator: Laura Johnson

FMED-D3361 - Academic Family Medicine and Community Based Research

Family & Community Medicine
MCW Hub for Collaborative Medicine, A2340-4
Faculty Director: Katinka Hooyer, PhD
Course Coordinator: Laura Johnson

FMED-D4112 - Family Medicine Elective at Fox Valley Residency

Mosiac Family Health
229 S. Morrison St.
Appleton, WI 54911
Faculty Director: Megan Everson, MD
Course Coordinator: Jill VandenHeuvel

FMED-D4115 - Sports Medicine-Primary Care

Contact faculty for exact time & location
(414) 805-7463 or (414) 955-3217
Faculty Director: Craig Young, MD
Course Coordinator: Laura Johnson, Amy Peters

FMED-D4226 - Promoting Health in Underserved Communities

Family & Community Medicine
MCW Hub for Collaborative Medicine, A2340-4 /Hybrid
Faculty Director: Leslie Ruffalo, PhD
Course Coordinator: Laura Johnson

FMED-M4305 - Academic Family Medicine and Community-Based Research

Family & Community Medicine
MCW Hub for Collaborative Medicine, A2340-4
Faculty Director: Katinka Hooyer, PhD
Course Coordinator: Laura Johnson

FMED-D4420 - Health Policy and Advocacy for Physicians

Family & Community Medicine
MCW Hub for Collaborative Medicine, A2340-4/Hybrid
Faculty Director: David Calawerts, MD
Course Coordinator: Laura Johnson

FMED-D4719 - Mastering the Difficult Conversation

Family & Community Medicine
MCW | Online
Faculty Director: John Hayes, DO
Course Coordinator: Laura Johnson

M4 Required Acting Internships & Ambulatory Rotations

During the Acting Internship rotations students will spend four weeks completing a rigorous hospital-based experience supervised and working closely with Family Medicine faculty and residents. Students will manage the short-term needs of acutely sick patients, diagnose, and implement plan of care and therapy based on assessment. Students will see patients independently and receive direct observation and feedback. Please visit the course catalog to see M4 required family medicine course offerings.

These courses are offered by the Department of Family and Community Medicine to senior medical students. Contact the Registrar's Office at (414) 955-8873 for more details.

To view the M4 course catalog, you must sign into MCWconnect. Additional information is available on the Registrar's website.

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FMED-D4502 - Family Medicine Acting Internship at Froedtert Hospital

Froedtert Hospital
900 N. 92nd St.
Milwaukee, WI 53226
Director: Elizabeth Brandes, MD
Course Coordinator: Blanca Garcia

FMED-D4504 - Family Medicine Acting Internship at Froedtert Menomonee Falls

Froedtert Menomonee Falls
W180 N8085 Town Hall Rd.
Menomonee Falls, WI 53051
Director: David Marshall, MD
Course Coordinator: Amy Matenaer

FMED-D4510 - Family Medicine Acting Internship at Waukesha Memorial Hospital

Waukesha Memorial Hospital
725 American Ave.
Waukesha, WI 53188
Director: Maureen Longeway, MD
Course Coordinator: Diane Behling

FMED-D4903 - Ambulatory Family Medicine at the North Side Family Medicine Residency

Outreach Community Health Center
200 W. Capitol Dr.
Milwaukee, WI 53212
Director: Seth Bodden, MD
Course Coordinator: Varonica Williams

FMED-D4904 - Ambulatory Family Medicine at the South Side Family Medicine Residency

Forest Home Health Center
1316 W. Forest Home Ave.
Director: Jeremy Waldhart, DO
Coordinator: Blanca Garcia

Visiting Senior Medical Students

MCW’s Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM) welcomes visiting U.S. senior medical students to register for our fourth-year electives. All electives are four weeks. The following electives will be posted to the VSLO (Visiting Student Learning Opportunities) platform in January 2025: