A quick overview of my med school days:
1st Year:
Mon-Fri 8am-12pm : Approximately 50 min lectures in a large lecture hall with the whole class and Anatomy lab (1-2 hours, several days a week from Sept-April). During the beginning of the year (Aug-Sept) and the end (April-May) when we were not dissecting we just had lecture. Our curriculum was "Systems Based." When learning the Neuro systems we learned the physiology of the nervous system, the histology of neural cells, head, neck, brain and spinal anatomy, etc. When learning cardiology we studied the physiology of the cardiac and vascular systems, the histology of heart cells and the vascular system, and dissected the heart. One morning a week was set aside for PBL -Problem Based Learning. In PBL small groups of students work together to learn about concepts by working through a clinical case and researching about the topics. Lectures were taught my both MDs and PhDs who had expertise in whatever we were learning. There were also histology labs (microscopic study of tissues) and some small group learning sessions for practical applications like radiology. Exams were every 6-8 weeks and consisted of a written, multiple choice exam covering all the material plus a practical anatomy and hsitology section where you had to identify or answer questions regarding tagged structure on cadavers or microscope slides. Each exam was about 4 hours long.
Mon-Fri 12pm-5pm: One afternoon a week was set aside for Student Continuity Practice (SCP). Each student was assigned to a primary care MD preceptor (Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, or Family Medicine) and spent the afternoon seeing patients in the outpatient office and presenting them to their preceptor. This continued for the first three years of med school. Another afternoon was spent in Principles of Clinical Medicine. This was where I learned how to do a physical exam and we talked about some of the "touchy-feely," more humanistic side of medicine. Another afternoon was spent in elective. There were many electives to choose from in diverse subjects from "Art in Medicine" to "Current topics in Emergency Medicine Research"
Break from June-August
Year 2:
Mon-Fri 8am-12pm The same structure as first year without anatomy lab, but now the focus was shifted to learn the mechanisms of disease, pathophysiology and pharmacology. In first year I learned how everything worked; in second year I learned about everything that goes wrong and a little bit about how to fix it. PBL sessions continued one morning a week. In addition, a section on health and human behavior, including medical ethics, was taught. Same exam structure including histology, just no cadavers or anatomy.
Mon-Fri 1pm-5pm Again, a similiar schedule to first year with Student Continuty Practice and Principles of Clinical Medicine. The clinical focus shifted from how to do a general physical exam to how and when to perform more focused exams based on a patient presentation. More touchy-feely stuff.
May-June Study for and take Step 1 National Board Exam
Third Year: A full year of rotations; all were required:
OB/GYN 1 month
Family Med 6 weeks
Outpatient Surgery 2 weeks
Internal Medicine 1 month
Surgery 1 month
Psychiatry 1 month
Outpatient Medicine 1 month
Orthopedics 2 weeks
Pediatrics (Outpatient and Inpatient) 1 month
BTE (Beginning to End - pick up patients in the ED and follow then through the entire hospital course) 2 weeks
Outpatient Psychiatry one afternoon a week for 3 months
During inpatient hospital rotations I was expected to assist the residents in patient care, round on patients in the morning and present patients during rounds with the attending and the rest of the team. I had to stay overnight for call approximately every 3rd or 4th night. Each rotation also had some required lectures and of course, reading. There was an exam for each rotation as well. I also continued to have Student Continuity one afternoon a week.
Year 4: Four required rotations:
Emergency Medicine
Sub-Intern (Medicine, Surgery, Pediatric or Family Medicine)
ICU (Medical, Surgical, or Pediatric)
Scholarly Project (Research, education, or community health based project)
The rest of the rotations were electives I could choose or set up on my own. Students often use this time to do a rotation in the specialty they hope to match into for residency. Fourth year is very focused on applying to residency, interviewing at programs and, hopefully, matching.
Graduation May, 2007
Residency started July 1, 2007
All med schools are a little bit different form one another, but I hope this gives you a general idea of what the four years are like for many of us.