Once Year Two students have completed the Transition to the Wards course, they take time off for spring break and return to the clinical curriculum. The clinical curriculum is broken into nine-week blocks, or five rotations per year. The core clerkships include Emergency Medicine, Internal Medicine, Neurology, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Surgery and Women’s Health. Students are required to complete all of these cores by end of the first quarter of Year Four, but may elect the order in which they take them. Most students will delay one or two core clerkships in order to take more elective rotations, or time to study for the USMLE board exam.

PRECEDE

Students enrolled in core clerkships are required to participate in Pre-Clerkship Education Exercises (PRECEDE) at the beginning and midpoints of each quarter. These exercises are intended to introduce students to fundamental skills and knowledge that they will utilize at their inpatient and outpatient sites. 

In cooperation with the Johns Hopkins Simulation Center, several of the sessions contained in PRECEDE are hands-on learning sessions utilizing high- and low-fidelity simulations and standardized patients. Students have, in the past, given these particular sessions the highest praise, as they feel the preparation and knowledge that they receive during this time is invaluable to their upcoming experience.

Elective Rotations

There are numerous clinical and research elective rotations offered at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. A full listing is available in the School of Medicine electives catalog.

Featured Elective: Global Health Leadership Program