Starting your clerkship

PIER 1 - This three-week unit is is held at the beginning of Med 3. It’s designed to: refresh basic clinical and procedural skills learned in Med 1 and Med 2, introduce you to the hospital-based clerkship behaviours, procedures and processes, and provide opportunities to learn and practice clinical problem solving in various settings.  

PIER 2 - This two-week unit is held in December of Med 3. It’s designed to support and enhance your ability to successfully navigate through your clerkship rotations.

During your three-week emergency medicine rotation, you'll be involved in history taking, completing physical exams, coming up with care plans and delivering discharge instructions to patients.

You'll complete six weeks of family medicine; rotations are completed throughout the Maritimes. You can select to work with family doctors who have particular interests in emergency medicine, obstetrics or geriatric care.

The internal medicine unit incorporates the objectives of general internal medicine as well as the subspecialties of internal medicine. You'll complete: four weeks in general medicine, four weeks in a ward-based medicine subspecialty, two weeks in a clinic-based subspecialty (must be 100% ambulatory care) and two weeks in geriatric medicine. As part of the learning experience, you'll take in-house call for internal medicine.

The six-week obstetrics and gynecology rotation takes place across the Maritimes. The clerkship is structured to provide you with a broad view of women’s reproductive health--from childbirth to menopause.

Pediatrics is a six-week clerkship. In Halifax, the rotation is divided into three weeks on the Pediatric 
Medical Unit and three weeks of mixed ambulatory/emergency care. Clerks rotating at other sites across the Maritimes typically have an integrated six-week rotation.

You'll complete a six-week psychiatry rotation. Through a variety of inpatient and outpatient clinical experiences, you'll be exposed to a range of psychiatric disorders. Rotations are offered in the Halifax Regional Municipality, Saint John, Fredericton, Moncton, Miramichi, Windsor, Charlottetown and Sydney.

The nine-week surgery unit provides you with the broad principles of surgical care through exposure to the surgical specialties.

You'll complete a mandatory three-week general surgery rotation. There are two, three-week selective rotations that you can choose from the following nine surgical specialties: cardiac, neurosurgery, otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat), pediatric general surgery, plastics, orthopedics, thoracics, vascular surgery and urology. You'lll be scheduled for call duty.

Electives allow students to: gain experience in disciplines not offered in the regular curriculum; study particular areas of the curriculum in greater depth; and explore career opportunities. The elective period consists of 18 weeks in Phase 2 (Med 4).