Department of Family Medicine

Faculty of Medicine

Med III Core Clerkships


Work alongside experienced family physicians 

The family medicine clerkship rotation is six weeks in length and partners with the Department of Psychiatry to form a 12-week block. The family medicine clerkship rotation is one of the few opportunities for you to work directly with family physicians and a rare opportunity to work outside of a tertiary care hospital setting. 

You'll receive an orientation to all of your clerkship experiences, including family medicine, in your second year.

Match process

In the spring before your clerkship year, the Department of Family Medicine will place you with community clinical teachers using a random, computerized match process.    

You can request:

  • Two three-week blocks with different preceptors
  • One six-week block
  • Specific preceptors
  • Specific locations

Alternatively, you can request areas of interest such as:

  • Obstetrics
  • Emergency medicine
  • Geriatric or palliative care

Clinical teachers provide their availability, the number of students they can take over the year and preferences for three- or six-week blocks. 

Although this system is designed to match you to one of your selected preferences, there are times when this cannot be accommodated. For example, if a majority of students select a specific location, such as Halifax, for their rotation, there may not be enough preceptors available to place everyone there.

Orientation and seminars

At the beginning of your six-week family medicine rotation, you'll attend an orientation webinar.        

During your family medicine rotation, you’ll participate in 14 additional webinars:

  • Preventive Health in Family Medicine
  • Well baby/child
  • Chronic Cough
  • Hypertension
  • Musculoskeletal Pain
  • Abdominal Pain
  • Diabetes Type 2
  • Maternity Care
  • Breastfeeding
  • Gynecological Care
  • Family Violence
  • Rashes
  • Family Medicine Integration Cases
  • Emerging Issues in Family Medicine

You'll also give a 10-minute project presentation, by webinar, during your rotation.

Rotation

The bulk of the rotation is spent with clinical teachers wherever they are in the community (clinic, hospital, nursing homes or house calls). You will also have the opportunity to spend up to 3 half-days over 6 weeks in the community, learning about health-related community resources, if this helps you fulfill individual learning needs.

The objectives for the rotation reflect common problems, presentations and procedures in family medicine. You'll complete a logbook on One45 to help you ensure that you're meeting the goals for your clerkship.

Evaluation

You must ensure your preceptor completes the required ITERs (in-training evaluation report). Your preceptors will complete Formative ITERs. When your formative ITERs and project presentations have been completed, the clerkship director will complete the summary ITER. 

At the end of the 12-week family medicine/psychiatry block, you'll also write a multiple-choice/short answer family medicine exam that is formative. 

Brightspace

All clerkship materials and information for the family medicine clerkship is available to current third-year students on Brightspace. You can access Brightspace at https://dal.brightspace.com by using your NetID user name and password.