In officially one week we are finished with our didactic (classroom) year. For those of you unaware of how our program is set up, here is a quick rundown.
Our program starts in June and from that point on we go through numerous classes that give us the best comprehensive study of all aspects of healthcare. This is called our didactic year and that is what I will have officially completed in one week and one day.
We then begin our clinical year. Our clinical year is 12 months and depending on the schedule we get, we do between 12-14 rotations. Most rotations are a month long and there is a possibility of a few two-week rotations as well. During that time we will take all the knowledge we learned during our didactic year and apply it to patients and diseases that we will see throughout the year. Our rotations consist of: 12 weeks of family practice, 12 weeks of adult primary care, four weeks of emergency medicine, four weeks of psychiatry, four weeks of surgery and 12 weeks of electives.
The combination of our didactic and clinical year will help prepare us for our boards and, most importantly, for our career as healthcare providers. Needless to say…I am beyond ecstatic to get out and have face-to-face contact with patients. This is what I have been working for my entire life and it’s crazy to think the time has come!
We begin rotations June 7 and I know it will be such a great experience. Then after the clinical year is over we come back for a 25th month on campus. During that month we GRADUATE (whoot whoot), prepare for boards and present healthcare presentations. So I am officially nearly half way done with this program and look forward to whatever the next half of my time in this program will hold.
