Medical Student Rotations

The Department of Family Medicine plays a vital role in medical student education through its dynamic faculty and residents, offering robust clinical training in both academic and community settings. The department emphasizes culturally competent care, community engagement, and scholarly development, preparing students to become well-rounded family physicians in today’s evolving healthcare landscape. Students rotate through outpatient clinics and inpatient services, gaining hands-on experience in diverse areas such as geriatrics, behavioral medicine, integrative medicine, and maternal-child health. The department hosts third year students from Wake Forest University School of Medicine for their immersive FM clerkship.

Our department offers five month long elective rotations in the inpatient or outpatient settings for fourth year students. They are excellent educational opportunities as well as a way to learn more about the program, faculty and residents on a firsthand basis. Visting students are warmly welcomed.*

Fourth Year Electives

1. Acting Internship at Mercy (4AIM122)
   
   During a 4-week rotation, students manage their own inpatient panel from admission to discharge, conduct independent evaluations under supervision across emergency, clinic, and hospital settings, and care for OB/newborn, pediatric, and adult patients at both Carolinas Medical Center and CMC-Mercy.
   
   
2. Acting Internship in Family Medicine- Atrium Union (Course number tbd)
   
   Our newest course offering! As members of the in-patient team, students care for their own panel of patients from admission to discharge. The students will actively participate in rounds and work one weekend shift during the month of the rotation. Students will have the opportunity to care for a variety of patients: newborn, OB, pediatric, and adult in a community-based hospital setting.
   
   
3. Advanced Skills and Procedures (4FM11)
   
   This course offers future family medicine students hands-on experience with advanced procedures, chronic disease management, prenatal care, and dermatology.
   
   
4. Union Family Medicine-Rural Health (4FM12)
   
   During this 4-week rotation split between Union Family Practice and Atrium Union, students work alongside family medicine residents and attendings, gaining exposure to diverse pathologies, performing common procedures, participating in OB and prenatal care with potential delivery experience, attending weekly didactics, and contributing informal teaching based on clinical cases.
   
   
5. Urban/Underserved Medicine (4FM13)
   
   This elective immerses students in Charlotte’s diverse immigrant communities, where they engage in culturally competent care for underserved populations through family medicine clinics, explore public health strategies like Community Oriented Primary Care, and have the option to enhance Spanish language skills.
   
   
6. Translational Research in Family Medicine (4NC25)
   
   Students will join a transdisciplinary primary care research team focused on improving outcomes for vulnerable populations, complete CITI Training beforehand, and produce a scholarly presentation or publication by the end of the course.

At Carolinas Medical Center, residents are actively involved in the education of the third- and fourth-year medical students, primarily from Wake Forest University School of Medicine Charlotte, but also from other medical schools across the country as they rotate through the pediatrics, internal medicine, OB/GYN and emergency medicine services.

*All visiting students must have access to and apply through Visiting Student Learning Opportunities™ (VSLO®)