Internal Medicine Clerkship

This clerkship is a 10-week core Internal Medicine clerkship that combines both Outpatient/Ambulatory Internal Medicine and Inpatient Internal Medicine experiences. You will spend 4 weeks in the outpatient medicine clinics, 3 weeks on the VA inpatient ward, and 3 weeks on the Iowa Methodist inpatient ward.  

Details about the Internal Medicine Clerkship can be found in the Internal Medicine Clerkship Survival Guide.

To hear first hand about the inpatient internal medicine rotation from prior students, watch  their feedback here. To hear more about the outpatient internal medicine rotation, watch here.

Resources:

  • A binder for this rotation will be provided on the first day of your rotation.
  • Additional reference books will be provided for use during the rotation.  These need to be returned at the end of the rotation.
  • Health Sciences Library: Students have 24-hour access 7 days per week to the IMMC Health Sciences library. A UnityPoint - Des Moines picture ID badge will be needed for after-hours entry. Internet and photocopying are available. Students may call the Health Sciences librarians for assistance at 515-241-6490.
  • See Clerkship ICON website for additional electronic resources

Conferences:

  • Weekly CBL Sessions in Nelson Student Classroom
  • EKG Reading Session (see lecture schedule in binder)
  • IMMC Morning Report: Tuesday and Friday mornings from 8:00 - 8:30 a.m. in the Powell 5 Conference Room
  • Wednesday Morning Conferences: (CPC, Grand Rounds, M&M) at 7:30 a.m. in Thompson Auditorium
  • Noon Conferences:  From noon - 1 p.m. in Dorner Seminar Room (see Internal Medicine monthly conference schedule for details)

Evaluations:

  • Self-Assessments  to be completed at midpoint and end of clerkship 
  • Midpoint and End of  Clerkship Assessments
  • Final Clerkship Evaluation
  • Resident & Faculty Evaluations

Final Grading:

The final grade students receive for this clerkship is based on:

  • Clinical performance ratings from faculty and residents who supervise them in Des Moines.
  • Performance on a final examination administered at the end of the clerkship.
  • The final examination is a two-part, computer-based exam.
    1. A knowledge-based exam using a super-list format (two and half hours).
    2. Diagnostic reasoning exam involving a virtual patient simulation (one hour).

Mini-Clinical Evaluation Exercises:

Students are to participate in at least two mini-clinical evaluation exercises with faculty. During these exercises, faculty observe the student interacting with a patient. The observation can be limited to any part of the patient evaluation. The exercise may focus on observing the student taking the history, performing the physical examination, or counseling the patient. Evaluation forms must be submitted to document completion of this requirement.

Mini-Clinical Oral Evaluation:

Students are to have faculty formally evaluate a minimum of two oral new patient presentations during the rotation. Evaluation forms are included in the rotation binder.

PxDx Electronic Documentation:

Students are required to document the number of patients they are assigned and the diagnoses and patient care activities they participate while caring for these patients. The expectation is that students who do not have sufficient opportunities to care for patients with essential clinical conditions during the clerkship can be identified and  provided with supplemental experiences to assure all students are provided broad exposure to all areas of clinical training.

Maps

Office of Student Affairs and Curriculum (OSAC)