Third Year Clerkship

Family Medicine 2021-22 block schedule_FINAL Block Dates

The Family Medicine Clerkship is a six-week core rotation for BUSM third year students. Central objectives of the clerkship are to teach:

1. The Family Medicine approach to the diagnosis and management of undifferentiated patient problems,
2. Core clinical skills required to assess and manage common acute and chronic problems, and
3. Principles of comprehensive and continuous care for patients and their families. The clerkship also emphasizes the principles of health promotion, disease prevention, and patient education.

The Family Medicine Clerkship is primarily focused on ambulatory care. While some students will participate in taking care of the hospitalized patients of their preceptors as well as patients in nursing homes and other facilities, the majority of the clerkship will be in the office setting. These settings may be in Family Medicine residency programs, community health centers, or private group or solo practices; students will be able to rank order their site preferences. Experience at the clinical sites will be complemented by the core curriculum at Boston University School of Medicine and on-line discussions facilitated by department faculty. Performance will be evaluated by the student’s preceptors, a case report, online work, as well as OSCE and written examinations at the conclusion of the clerkship.  Students will also have to demonstrate competence in certain clinical skills.

The sites utilized by the Family Medicine Clerkship include a number of community health center and underserved sites, such as the Family Medicine Heath Center at Boston Medical Center, Codman Square Community Health Center, South Boston Community Health Center, East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, Manet Community Health Center, Lowell Community Health Center and Upham’s Corner Community Health Center; private practices in the greater Boston area and private practices affiliated with Cape Cod Hospital and Maine Primary Care Association. Clerks are also placed at the following Family Medicine Residency Programs: BUMC Family Medicine Residency (South Boston, Codman Square Health Centers and East Boston Neighborhood Health Center) and, Central Maine Medical Center FMRP in Lewiston. Housing is provided at all away sites.

Here is a link to the non-lottery and military rotation sites.

All of our sites provide excellent learning experiences for students. We work actively with each site and preceptor to make sure that our students are engaged, seeing appropriate volume and variety of patients, actively coming up with assessments and plans on their own, being observed and receiving valuable feedback.

Once students receive their schedule they will also receive an email with the link to the Family Medicine Site Preference Form. This online form will allow students placed at Community Health Center/Underserved and Greater Boston Private/Group Practice to give us more detailed information about their interests and preferences so we can match you with a specific site in this category.  Please fill it out after you have received your 3rd year schedule.

We do our best to accommodate all requests, but given the number of spots needed, we are not able to guarantee that all requests will be met. 

***Please note that occasionally staffing or other circumstances at a site may change necessitating that a student be switched to a different site, potentially in a very different location than the original placement. This can occur up to the first day of clerkship. We try if at all possible to avoid this, but sometimes circumstances are unavoidable.***

Our sites are divided into the categories listed below. You will enter your site category preferences through E*Value.

1. Community Health Centers/Undeserved
2. Greater Boston Private/Group Practice

FM Clerkship Away Sites:

1. Rehoboth/Seekonk Medical Center
2. Great Barrington (Berkshires)
3. Goodwin Community Health Center, NH
4. Manchester VA Medical Center, Manchester, NH
5. Valley Medical Group, Greenfield, MA
6. Cape Cod Family Medicine Centers
7. Rumford/Central Maine Medical Center, Maine
8. Central Maine Medical Center – Family Medicine Residency Program
9. Kaiser Permanente, San Jose, CA
10. Stanley Street Treatment and Resources – SSTAR, Fall River, MA

Contact Information

Lidya Wlasiuk, MD, MPH
Clerkship Director
(617) 414-6243
Lidya.Wlasiuk@bmc.org

Sarah Phillips, MD
Associate Clerkship Director
(617) 414-6243
sara.phillips@bmc.org

Julie Bartolomeo, MD
Assistant Clerkship Director
(617) 414-6243
Julia.Bartolomeo@bmc.org

Chenille Hogan
Manager of Student Relations/Clerkship Coordinator
(617) 414-6237
chenille@bu.edu