Medical internships allow third and fourth year medical students to gain hands-on experience in various fields of medicine. They participate in patient care, attend conferences and rounds, and learn to make diagnoses and initiate treatments. Mandatory rotations include family medicine, neurology, and psychiatry, and students must earn ACLS certification.
A medical internship is a clinical rotation that a third or fourth year medical student undertakes to gain exposure to various fields of medicine and participate directly in patient care. Typically, each rotation is a month during which medical students learn to interview patients, chart notes, order and interpret diagnostic tests, and initiate therapies. During the third year of medical school, students cycle through primary care hospital departments such as pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, general surgery, and medicine. Fourth-year students move through many of the same departments, but also have the opportunity to gain experience in subspecialty departments such as orthopedics, cardiology, radiology, and ophthalmology. A medical internship usually allows each medical student to select a few elective blocks in areas of medicine they are strongly interested in.
During the first two years of medical school, students study basic and clinical sciences. The medical internship provides the opportunity for each student to apply what they have learned while being supervised by a medical assistant. A key feature of the medical internship are the daily rounds, during which students present patient cases to the attending physicians, discuss diagnostic and therapeutic interventions, and answer questions. In this way, students learn to move from the patient’s history and examination findings to making a diagnosis and initiating appropriate treatments. Typically, each medical student follows an assigned list of patients.
In addition to morning work rounds, students participate in various required conferences, rounds and seminars. During the big rounds, entire departments come together to discuss single cases and diagnostic issues. Students work as part of a clinical team, consisting of attending physicians, resident physicians, hospitalists and interns, in addition to students. Medical student responsibilities during a medical internship may include writing orders, clinical notes, drawing blood, and performing other diagnostic procedures. The student must also verify laboratory test results and report all findings to the resident physician.
In addition to those already listed, mandatory internships for most medical schools include family medicine, neurology, and psychiatry. Some programs also require training in emergency departments and intensive care units, such as the neonatal intensive care unit and cardiac care unit. In addition, students must earn advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) certification, during which they learn the steps necessary to resuscitate a patient who has stopped breathing or whose heart has stopped beating. Physicians’ offices also incorporate a rotation in electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation.
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