Clinical Clerkships
Overview
Clinical studies are conducted in the form of clerkships for small groups of students. Students begin their clinical clerkships in the middle of the second and for the entire third and fourth years of study. The main emphasis is on clinical bedside teaching and tutoring in affiliated teaching departments of hospitals, out-patient clinics and primary care clinics.
Students
- come into close contact with patients
- participate in clinical rounds and decision-making processes
- acquire the skills of history taking and physical diagnosis under supervision of the teaching staff
- are exposed to the subspecialties and ancillary diagnostic procedures carried out in laboratories and imaging facilities.
Division chairmen allocate teaching departments for the academic year, and student groups are assigned to those departments.
By Year
Second year students take a course in Physical Diagnosis and hospital experience. Third year students attend the following clerkships:
- Internal Medicine
- Surgery
- Pediatrics
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Psychiatry
- Emergency Medicine
At the end of this year, students take the USMLE Step 2 examinations.
At the end of the third year, students take 16 weeks of electives in U.S. at institutions approved by the Sackler Faculty of Medicine. Students must take at least one subinternship in the U.S. in one of the six major clerkships of the third-year curriculum. Following the electives in the U.S., students resume their fourth year of studies in Israel. These studies include clerkships in the following:
- Neurology
- Family/ Ambulatory Medicine
- Imaging
- Five weeks of electives
Elective requests must be approved by the Program Director. Electives offer the student the opportunity to explore and develop special interests and inclinations. The Sackler curriculum is designed so that (1) students are well prepared for the USMLE (Step 1) basic sciences exam given at the end of the second year and the USMLE (Step 2) clinical sciences examination given at the end of the third Year; (2) the major clerkships (Internal Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Surgery) are completed by the end of the third year; and (3) students take electives at U.S. institutions at the beginning of their fourth year.
