UT San Antonio
Long School of Medicine
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Clinical Curriculum

Undergraduate Medical Education

Doctor of Medicine (M.D.)

OBGYN faculty with students

The clinical curriculum begins in March of the second academic year and allows flexibility in schedules for students to customize educational plans that suit their long-term career goals. A longitudinal educational experience, Exploring Clinical Medicine, delivers curricular themes that are common across all clerkships. Exploring Clinical Medicine includes topics such as quality improvement and patient safety, transitions of care, difficult patient encounters, professional communication, value-based care, climate change and effects on health, and more. Exploring Clinical Medicine is divided into three distinct, three-month courses, each culminating in a simulated clinical skills encounter that reflects the content covered during each course.

The clinical curriculum is comprised of 48 weeks of clerkships, eight weeks of “selectives” (four weeks of inpatient sub-internship and four weeks of ambulatory care which focuses on systems of practice), 20 weeks of “electives”, and four weeks of didactics which prepare students for their internships.

Core Clerkships

Students rotate in 4 to 8 week blocks of core clerkships, assuming increasing patient care responsibility commensurate with achievement of specific milestones and competencies. Clinical clerkships may be taken in any order beginning in March of the second academic year and must be completed by the end of the third academic year.

  • Medicine

    Clerkship duration length: 8 weeks

    The internal medicine clerkship provides opportunities for students to strengthen medical knowledge, develop patient care skills, and demonstrate professional behavior, all while caring for adults with complex medical conditions in the inpatient settings. Students spend eight weeks, divided into two four-week blocks, assigned to services that include inpatient acute medicine, cardiology, intensive care, and/or an inpatient service specializing in the care of patients with HIV and other infectious diseases. Students closely follow a subset of patients on their teams and are meaningfully involved with all aspects of their patients’ care. Students independently preround, give verbal presentations, write daily notes, and coordinate care with inter professional team members each day. In addition, students are expected to independently study to broaden their medical knowledge and positively impact the care of their patients. Weekly educational conferences further add to students’ development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to the practice of internal medicine. 

    Access and download the Medicine Clerkship Goals and Required Clinical Experiences

  • Surgery

    Clerkship duration length: 8 weeks

    The 8-week Surgery Clerkship is structured into two distinct four-week rotations: one focused on General Surgery and another on Selective surgical areas, which include options like Vascular, SICU, Urology, Plastics, Pediatrics, Anesthesia, and Orthopedics. Students actively engage in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with both acute and chronic surgical illnesses, encompassing ambulatory and inpatient cases. This experience spans a wide range of clinical sites across multiple health systems in San Antonio. Students participate in overnight call, providing exposure to Level 1 Adult and Pediatric Verified Trauma Centers and a Pediatric Burn Center. The clerkship features a comprehensive 8-week didactic curriculum, delivered through weekly case-based didactics, covering essential topics such as Trauma, Critical Care, Breast, Soft Tissue, Endocrine, Vascular, and various gastrointestinal surgeries. Practical skills are developed in labs focusing on suture techniques and NG/Foley insertion. Assessments include weekly quizzes and the NBME exam. The primary goals of the Surgery Clerkship are to equip students with a robust foundation of surgical knowledge, develop essential basic technical skills through practical training, and foster professional attitudes necessary for understanding and managing patients with surgical diseases, preparing them for any medical practice.

    Access and download the Surgery Clerkship Goals and Required Clinical Experiences

  • Family Medicine

    Clerkship duration length: 6 weeks

    Family Medicine is a primary care specialty that provides the first contact, ongoing and preventive care to patients of all ages. During the clerkship, you will see a variety of disease presentations at the clinical site(s) you are placed. You will work with family physicians who: deliver individualized patient-centered care in the context of the patient's family and community; provide continuing and comprehensive care; value, develop, nurture and maintain the patient-physician relationship; and have the unique opportunity to care for patients over their lifetime. While your clerkship experience will occur exclusively in the outpatient setting, keep in mind that family physicians are trained to provide comprehensive and continuous care, and practice in various inpatient, outpatient, urgent care and emergency settings based on their interests and the needs of those they serve. 

    Access and download the Family Medicine Clerkship Goals and Required Clinical Experiences.

  • Obstetrics/Gynecology

    Clerkship duration length: 6 weeks

    The Obstetrics & Gynecology clerkship provides students with opportunities to prepare to function as a house officer capable of providing preventive care and treatment or competent to identify the patient’s need for direction into an appropriate care environment.  Supervised direct patient experience occurs in the obstetrical wards, operating room, labor and delivery suite, emergency room, and the obstetrical, gynecologic, family planning, and cancer detection clinics.

    Access and download the Obstetrics/Gynecology Clerkship Goals and Required Clinical Experiences.

  • Pediatrics

    Clerkship duration length: 6 weeks

    The Pediatric clerkship addresses issues unique to childhood and adolescence by focusing on human developmental biology, and by emphasizing the impact of family, community, and society on child health and well-being.  Additionally, the clerkship focuses on the impact of disease and its treatment on the developing human, and emphasizes growth and development, principles of health supervision, and recognition of common health problems.  The role of the pediatrician in prevention of disease and injury and the importance of collaboration between the pediatrician and other health professionals in stressed. During this clerkship, students spend time working in outpatient and inpatient settings.

    Access and download the Pediatrics Clerkship Goals and Required Clinical Experiences.

  • Psychiatry

    Clerkship duration length: 6 weeks

    The Psychiatry Clerkship provides third-year medical students with the knowledge and clinical skills to identify, assess, and manage mental health conditions across a variety of clinical settings. Through clinical experiences, students develop skills in conducting a psychiatric interview, performing mental status examinations, case formulation, and evidence-based treatment planning. Working closely with faculty and residents, students actively participate in patient care while gaining an appreciation for the therapeutic relationship and the biopsychosocial assessment. Interactive didactic seminars reinforce core psychiatric concepts and emphasize the integration of mental health into the care of all patients. The clerkship encourages students to reflect on the physician-patient relationship, cultivate empathy, and better understand how psychological, social, and behavioral factors influence health.

    Access and download the Psychiatry Clerkship Goals and Required Clinical Experiences.

  • Emergency Medicine

    Clerkship duration length: 4 weeks

    The Emergency Medicine clerkship introduces third year students to the specialty of emergency medicine and reviews principles of emergency care that will benefit a graduate entering any specialty.   Medical students are entrusted with many responsibilities and duties throughout the rotation.

  • Neurology

    Clerkship duration length: 4 weeks

    The Neurology Clerkship is a 4-week clinical experience consisting of three one-week rotations in the inpatient setting and one week in outpatient clinics. The inpatient clinical sites include the University Hospital and the VA hospital. The inpatient services including UHS wards, UHS consults, UHS stroke, UHS Neuro ICU, UHS epilepsy monitoring unit, UHS Pedi-neuro, and the VA. The outpatient sites include the Centers for Brain Health (CBH), Mays Cancer Center, UT DeZavala clinic, UHS, VA, or local private practice clinics.
     
    The Neurology clerkship is designed to expose students to patients with a variety of neurological conditions across multiple clinical settings. The goal of the neurology clerkship is for students to refine their neurological exam skills, recognize abnormal findings, formulate differential diagnoses and basic treatment plans for the most common neurological diseases, and recognize neurological emergencies. 

    Access and download the Neurology Clerkship Goals and Required Clinical Experiences.

Electives/Selectives

The elective curriculum, available to students beginning in March of the second academic year, offers students a myriad of opportunities to explore different medical specializations and/or allows the student to return to a core specialty with advanced duties and responsibilities. There is ample time allotted for students to travel for residency interviews and prepare for USMLE Step 2 CK exam.

Elective/Selective requirements include:

  • 8 weeks of clinical selectives (4 weeks of inpatient sub-internship and 4 weeks ambulatory care)
  • 20 weeks of electives (2-4 week electives can be taken locally or anywhere in US)
  • 4 weeks of mandatory didactics