Curriculum Overview

Year One

The first year of the preclinical curriculum is based on the building blocks of the basic sciences.  The curriculum focuses on normal structure and function, and it is primarily based on lectures and laboratory research and with courses incorporating small-group interactive learning in the form of Case-Based Learning or “CBL.” The Medicine, Person, Society and Doctoring (“MPSD”) course runs continuously through first and second years, and continues into the third Clerkship year.  This course addresses the  fundamentals of the doctor-patient relationship and includes instruction in Medical Interviewing. Please read for a more detailed curriculum.

Year Two

The second-year curriculum is based on human systems and concentrates on abnormal structure and function.  The curriculum changes from a primarily lecture-based one to a curriculum that emphasizes independent study and problem-solving.  The curriculum includes online exercises, as well as small-group interactive exercises that are held in class. Also during the second year of study, students begin their training in the clinical setting. Students are divided into small groups and spend one day a week in a hospital outpatient setting.  The mornings are spent with an assigned tutor who guides them in  history-taking and physical examination skills.  Afternoons are spent viewing clinical procedures and investigations appropriate to the body system being studied.

 

At the end of the second year of study students complete the NBME Comprehensive Exam, followed by the USMLE Step 1 Exam.  Students must achieve a passing grade on both these examinations to progress to the third year of study.

Year Three

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 the teaching departments of affiliated hospitals, outpatient clinics and primary care clinics. The clerkships allow the students to 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, and expose them 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. 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. 

Year Four

Following the electives in the U.S., students resume their fourth year of studies in Israel. These studies include clerkships in the following:

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.

 

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