Degree and Requirements, page 3
School of Medicine

Year II (37 weeks)

The major theme of the second year of medical training is the study of disease and pathology. The Year II curriculum is designed to build on the knowledge and skills acquired in the first year. In preparation for their assumption of clinical responsibilities during the third year of medical school, students are expected to integrate their understanding of basic science concepts with their knowledge of the fundamental mechanisms and personal and social aspects of disease.

The second-year curriculum begins with an 17-week introductory course titled Mechanisms of Disease, which is followed by a 20-week sequence of courses grouped under the heading Organ Systems. Concurrently with these courses, students continue their clinical studies in Introduction to Clinical Medicine II.

During the second-year curriculum, faculty of the basic science and clinical departments collaborate to present lectures, seminars, group discussions and laboratories, including animal laboratories. Students are expected to gain a practical understanding of the basic sciences, especially as they apply to pathological processes. In addition, they should achieve competence in physical diagnoses, understand the basic use of the clinical laboratory, recognize the major manifestations of disease, be able to differentiate the basic mechanisms of disease, and become familiar with introductory principles of therapeutics.

By February 1 of their second year students are expected to select their academic advisors and to begin arranging for the schedule of clerkships to be taken during the Junior/Senior Continuum. By the end of fall semester, Year II, each student receives a handbook which describes the required, selective and elective clerkships; the advisement program; and a calendar of rotation dates. Students choose the area of medical practice which they are most likely to pursue, and an advisor is assigned from that discipline. The advisor counsels the student on clerkships and opportunities in graduate medical education. Students who have not chosen a career path by February 1 are assigned to an advisor in the Department of Medicine.

In Year II the instructor's descriptive comments are an optional part of a satisfactory evaluation. At the close of a student's second year, the comments noted on evaluation forms during Years I and II are synthesized into a summary letter by the Associate Dean for Student Affairs.

Mechanisms of Disease

This 17-week introductory course emphasizes instruction in basic concepts and pathophysiologic mechanisms as a foundation for the integrated basic and clinical science presentations of the second-year Organ Systems. Faculty of the basic science departments (pathology, microbiology and pharmacology) and psychiatry present core material fundamental to their own disciplines, integrating this instruction whenever possible with the presentations of faculty from the clinical departments.

Organ Systems

A sequence of courses providing integrated basic and clinical science studies of nine major human organ systems: neurobehavior system, musculoskeletal system, renal system, pulmonary system, cardiovascular system, blood system, gastrointestinal-liver system, endocrine system and reproductive system.

The instruction in each of these courses focuses on the abnormal structure and function of the organ system under discussion. The integrated presentations for each organ system course are designed and taught by an interdepartmental committee which includes faculty of the appropriate clinical departments as well as the departments of pathology, microbiology, pharmacology and psychiatry.

Introduction to Clinical Medicine II

This course continues the development of clinical skills begun during the first year of the curriculum. Instruction during the second year emphasizes systematic acquisition of the clinical skills of interviewing, history taking, physical examination, elementary clinical problem solving and medical record keeping. Although the small-group format of this course continues in the second year, new groupings of students are arranged. The small groups are supplemented at intervals throughout the year with workshops on specific clinical skills.

The course is administered by the Department of Family Medicine and uses community-based physicians who are members of the clinical faculty at the School of Medicine.

Junior/Senior Continuum (two calendar years)

The final two years of medical school are designed as a continuum of two calendar years, beginning in June at the end of Year II. During the spring of their second year, students schedule clerkship rotations to be taken during the two years of the continuum. Each student's program is individually designed with the assistance of faculty advisors and includes 59 weeks of required clerkships, 12 weeks of selective clerkships and 15 weeks of free elective clerkships.

Descriptive comments are an essential component of the evaluation for all clinical clerkships offered during the Junior/Senior Continuum. Selective and free elective clerkships are evaluated on a satisfactory or unsatisfactory basis. The comments noted on the clerkship evaluation forms during the Junior/Senior Continuum are entered verbatim into the student's permanent file. Within six weeks of receiving an evaluation, the student has the option to review and petition for changes through the faculty member originating the evaluation.

All degree candidates are required to take and pass Step I of the United States Medical Licensing Examination and take Step II of the USMLE as a graduation requirement.

During the continuum each student may schedule 16 weeks of vacation for personal convenience, remedial work, funded research work and other noncurricular activities, such as investigating postgraduate training programs. Although every effort is made to provide flexibility in the scheduling of each student's program, some inherent limitations are imposed by the maximum enrollment permitted for each clerkship. Students are a vital part of the university's medical team, which provides health care for patients throughout the year; vacations are therefore subject to some scheduling adjustments.

Required Clerkships

Ambulatory Primary Care (6 weeks)
General Surgery(6 weeks)
Medicine I(6 weeks)
Medicine II(6 weeks)
Neurology(4 weeks)
Obstetrics and Gynecology(6 weeks)
Pediatrics(6 weeks)
Psychiatry(6 weeks)

Two clerkships must be selected from the following surgical specialties. These need not be taken consecutively.
Neurosurgery(3 weeks)
Ophthalmology(3 weeks)
Orthopaedic Surgery(3 weeks)
Otolaryngology(3 weeks)
Urology(3 weeks)

Selective Clerkships

Students are required to schedule 12 weeks of selective clerkships, chosen from a list of four- or six-week clerkships approved by the Year IV curriculum committee. Selective clerkships are carried out at USC-affiliated hospitals and encompass virtually all specialty areas.

Elective Clerkships

The "free" elective period consists of 15 weeks, during which electives may be taken on campus, at USC-affiliated hospitals or at more distant medical schools or medical centers. Approved on-campus electives which are offered regularly are listed in the elective catalogue.

Proposals for other on-campus and off-campus electives are reviewed individually by a committee composed of faculty members and students. All petitions must be submitted at least six weeks before the beginning of the rotation. Off-campus electives require documentation from the off-campus preceptor, endorsement of the student's medical school advisor, and prior approval and review by the Year IV Curriculum Committee. Credit is not given for electives until an evaluation has been received from the preceptor and a critique of the elective submitted by the student. Students with an academic deficiency may not schedule off-campus electives.

Orientation to Clinical Medicine

This required two-week course is scheduled during the first two weeks of the junior/senior continuum. This didactic, small group and practical skills training will expose students to the essential knowledge and skills they will need to function effectively during the clinical clerkships of the junior/senior continuum.

Basic and Clinical Science Rotation

During the spring of the junior year, the entire class takes a four-week block of basic and clinical science instruction. Each student is required to perform basic science course work, including (but not limited to) nutrition, radiation biology and biostatistics.

Senior Week

Senior week is tentatively scheduled for the week prior to graduation. A number of social activities are planned and all seniors will return to the classroom for the course Physician in Society. This course examines such issues as medical practice in the 21st century, the move toward a national health care system, malpractice and ways to understand its impact, and the development of a standardized national medical license. Each year issues that impact the house officer and the practicing physician will be addressed. This information is invaluable to students preparing to enter postgraduate training and future medical practice.

Fifth Year Research Option

USC offers students the opportunity to take a full year of research experience with either a USC School of Medicine faculty mentor or an approved faculty mentor at another institution. This program is open to any student in good to excellent academic standing who has completed his or her first year of medical school. Students interested in the option should identify a faculty preceptor and present a description of the proposed research program and funds available in support of the program to the associate dean for curriculum. A stipend, comparable to that received by a graduate student at the postgraduate level, is available. Application for this program is made through the Office for Curriculum (KAM 400), and will be supervised through the Office of the Associate Dean for Student Affairs (KAM 100E).

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Produced by the USC Division of Student Affairs, Office of University Publications, May 1, 1995
David Henriquez
univpub@stuaff.usc.edu