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Internal medicine is a broad discipline – that’s why we’ve designed a clerkship that will help you refine your skills and focus your interests.
The Department of Internal Medicine at the Valleywise Health Medical Center has a rotation duration of 4 weeks per rotation and a maximum of four rotations per academic year.
The major strengths of the internal medicine rotations at Valleywise Health include the tremendous range of pathology, the strong didactic program and the active, accessible teaching staff.
Additionally, students have a unique opportunity to participate in hands-on patient care. Specifically, students function as an integral member of the health care team, assuming responsibilities commensurate with their level of training and under the direct supervision of full-time faculty.
The working environment is informal and concentrates on practical aspects of patient management with strong emphasis on solving problems by proper interpretation of clinical data and the sound application of general medical principles.
All applications for internal medicine student rotations must be submitted to the internal medicine department for approval 75 days prior to the clerkship.
Internal Medicine does not offer observerships
Clinical rotations involve primary responsibility for direct patient care and are an excellent preparation for the internship year. In this elective, you will function as a “sub-intern,” becoming an integral and active member of a ward team under direct faculty supervision. You will work-up and follow patients, participate in daily attending rounds, perform procedures and learn the basic mechanics of managing a hospital service.
As a 3rd year medical student, General Medicine Wards is available to you.
Senior electives are divided into those involving primary patient care:
and those involving consultative services:
You will be a member of a subspecialty consultation team under the direct supervision of a staff member. The experience is clinically-oriented and, although primarily inpatient, all rotations have one or more outpatient clinics per week. A core curriculum of lectures is given by the attending.
Primary care responsibilities, call and weekend coverage are not part of this experience.
Faculty: Drs. Mehrdad Saririan, Raina Roy, Azar Mehdizadeh, and Beeletsega Yeneneh
Length of Time: 4 weeks maximum
Offered: Year-round
Maximum enrollment: 2
Patient care elective: Yes
Goals: To provide a broad overview of contemporary issues in the management of patients presenting with a wide variety of problems involving the cardiovascular system.
Format: You will become an active and participating member of the Cardiology consult service and outpatient clinic team. Routine activities include ECG interpretation, cardiology rounds, new patient work-ups, interpretation of hemodynamic and angiographic data, journal club and educational conferences. Emphasis is placed on the basic approach to patient evaluation, problem-solving and decision-making for a patient with cardiac problem.
Evaluation Methods: Ongoing feedback and written evaluation by the attending at the end of the rotation.
Faculty: Drs. Marc Merroto and Jacek Sobczak
Length of Time: 4 weeks maximum
Offered: Year-round
Maximum enrollment: 2
Patient care elective: Yes
Goals: To strengthen the student’s skills in evaluating patients with neurologic and neurovascular disorders.
Format: The student is an active member of the consultative team under the direct supervision of subspecialist staff. Activities include consultative services as well as outpatient clinic experience. No call or weekend coverage.
Evaluation Methods: Ongoing feedback and written evaluations by the attending at the conclusion of rotation.
Faculty: Drs. Norlalak Jiramethee, Katherine Gross, Syed Zaidi, and Andres Borja-Alvarez
Length of Time: 4 weeks maximum
Offered: Year-round
Maximum enrollment: 2
Patient care elective: Yes
Goals: To provide the student with hands-on practical experience in the intensive care unit. The emphasis will be on learning an organized diagnostic and therapeutic approach to the critically ill patient with multiple organ system disease.
Format: You will have the opportunity to be an active and integral part of the ICU team, participating in direct patient care, daily attending rounds and a core curriculum of lectures in critical care medicine. By the end of the rotation, you will begin to construct a solid foundation in ventilator management, invasive hemodynamic monitoring and procedural skills, which will be invaluable for those planning a future in virtually any aspect of clinical practice. In addition to the “high-tech” methods employed in a contemporary intensive care unit, however, strong emphasis remains on a compassionate approach to the patient, the importance of the physical exam, clinical problem solving and the learning of sound general medical principles.
Evaluation Methods: Ongoing feedback and a written evaluation by the attending at the conclusion of the student’s rotation.
Faculty: Dr. Marina Rudin
Length of Time: 4 weeks maximum
Offered: Year-round
Maximum enrollment: 1
Patient Care Elective: Yes
Goals: To strengthen student skills in the care and evaluation of patients with endocrine and metabolic diseases, including evaluation, differential diagnosis and the appropriate use of diagnostic testing in both the acute and outpatient setting. Includes experience in thyroid, reproductive endocrinology, bone disease, and diabetes.
Format: You will be an active member of the consultative team under the direct supervision of sub-specialist staff. Activities include consultative services as well as outpatient clinic experience. No call or weekend coverage.
Evaluation Methods: Ongoing feedback and written evaluations by the attending at the conclusion of rotation.
Faculty: Drs. Keng-Yu Chuang, Abdul Nadir, and Indu Srinivsan
Length of Time: 4 weeks maximum
Offered: Year-round
Maximum enrollment: 1
Patient care elective: Yes
Goals: To provide the student with a broad exposure to gastrointestinal and hepatic disorders in both the acute and outpatient setting.
Format: You will be an active member of the consultative team under the direct supervision of sub-specialist staff. Activities include consultative service as well as outpatient clinic experience. No call or weekend coverage.
Evaluation Methods: Ongoing feedback and written evaluations by the attending at the conclusion of rotation.
Faculty: Drs. Waqas Arslan and Surabhi Amar
Length of Time: 4 weeks maximum
Offered: Year-round
Maximum enrollment: 1
Patient care elective: Yes
Goals: To strengthen students’ skills in the management of patients with malignant disease and in the clinical evaluation of hematologic disorders.
Format: You will be an active member of the consultative team under the direct supervision of sub-specialist staff. Activities include consultative service as well as outpatient clinic experience. No call or weekend coverage.
Evaluation Methods: Ongoing feedback and written evaluations by the attending at the conclusion of rotation.
Faculty: Drs. Shannon Skinner, Tina Younger, David Wisinger and Faculty
Length of Time: 4 weeks maximum
Offered: Year-round
Maximum enrollment: 10
Patient care elective: Yes
Goals: Development of clinical skills via supervised, advanced experience in examination and care of hospitalized patients. Improvement in problem identification and problem-solving ability.
Format: This clerkship offers a sub-internship experience in general internal medicine. You will become a member of the attending-resident-intern team with direct patient care responsibility. This is an excellent rotation that provides a tremendous amount of clinical experience and is invaluable in preparing for the internship year.
Evaluation Methods: Subjective by instructors.
Faculty: Dr. Maher Mousa, Arizona Kidney Dialysis (AKDHC)
Length of Time: 4 weeks maximum
Offered: Year-round
Maximum enrollment: 1
Patient care elective: Yes
Goals: To provide the student with a broad exposure to patients with acute and chronic renal diseases, acid base and electrolyte disorders.
Format: You will be an active member of the consultative team under the direct supervision of sub-specialist staff. Activities include consultative service as well as outpatient clinic experience. No call or weekend coverage.
Evaluation Methods: Ongoing feedback and written evaluations by the attending at the conclusion of rotation.
Faculty: Drs. Syed Zaidi, Katherine Gross, Andres Borja-Alvarez, and Norlalak Jiramethee
Length of Time: 4 weeks maximum
Offered: Year-round
Maximum enrollment: 1
Patient care elective: Yes
Goals: To strengthen the student’s skills in the care of patients with a wide variety of pulmonary diseases including evaluation, differential diagnosis and the appropriate use of diagnostic testing in both the acute and outpatient setting.
Format: You will be an active member of the consultative team under the direct supervision of sub-specialist staff. Activities include consultative service as well as outpatient clinic experience. No call or weekend coverage.
Evaluation Methods: Ongoing feedback and written evaluations by the attending at the conclusion of rotation.
Faculty: Dr. Sheetal Chhaya
Length of time: 4 weeks maximum
Offered: Year-round
Maximum enrollment: 1
Patient care elective: Yes
Goals: To teach the students how to diagnose and treat rheumatic diseases by exposing the students to the diversity of rheumatologic diseases including inflammatory autoimmune diseases (RA, SLE, scleroderma, myositis, vasculitis), degenerative conditions (OA, osteonecrosis), crystal disease/arthritis (gout, hyperuricemia, pseudogout, calcium pyrophosphate), soft tissue rheumatism, seronegative, spondyloarthropathies, (AS Reiters, psoriatic arthritis), metabolic bone disease (osteoporosis, osteomalacia, Paget’s).
Format: You will gain outpatient and inpatient experience in diagnosing and treating rheumatic diseases. Please note:
You will evaluate patients and present to attending staff. A core curriculum lecture series of 8 topics (e.g. RA, Serology, SLE, X-ray interpretation, OA) is also an integral part of the rotation.
Evaluation Methods: Ongoing feedback and written evaluation at the completion of the rotation.
