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    Mar 28, 2024  
2016-2017 Augusta University Graduate and Professional Catalog 
    
2016-2017 Augusta University Graduate and Professional Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Doctor of Medicine


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Medical College of Georgia
School of Medicine Curriculum
2016-2017

Basic Sciences:

During the two pre-clinical years, students acquire the building blocks of the foundational sciences that underlie medical practice and the skills required for clinical decision-making and patient interaction.  The modular content of the curriculum is taught in lectures, labs with integrated clinical conferences, team-based learning, small group activities, and preceptor relationships. The first year of the curriculum is a yearlong module divided into systems-based blocks that run in parallel with the Essentials of Clinical Medicine (ECM) course. The modules introduce students to Gross Anatomy, Biochemistry, Development, Genetics, Histology, Neuroscience, Physiology, and Psychiatry. The ECM course is a four-semester program designed to equip students with the necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors to perform successfully in the Phase 3 clerkships. ECM is organized into two “courses” (ECM1 and ECM2) with five components (The Art of Doctoring, Population and Public Health, Evidence-based Practice, Problem-based Learning, and Physical Diagnosis), which build sequentially on one another, and are interwoven wherever possible with the core foundational science modules. ECM is designed to ensure a continuity of training for the student across the Phase 1 and 2 years in the areas of professionalism, clinical skills development, cultural competency, public health, evidence-based practice, clinical content, interdisciplinary collaborative teaching, and self-evaluation of performance. The second year of the curriculum is divided into systems-based modules that run in parallel with the ECM course. In these modules, students are exposed to the topics of Medical Microbiology, Immunology, Pathology, and Pharmacology in the context of clinical medicine. Teaching strategies include interactive small groups, team-based learning, preceptor relationships, and lectures that are linked to course objectives. On average, students are in scheduled activities for 26 hours per week during the first two years. Classes are held in the new, state-of-the-art J. Harold Harrison, MD Education Commons Building. On the Athens campus, classes are held at the University of Georgia Health Sciences Campus. Each student is required to purchase a computer capable of using relevant educational software. The Greenblatt Library maintains current journal subscriptions, electronic resources, online books, and provides access to many external databases. The Library provides a mobile application for catalog and database searching, building access hours, as well as the full Library website. Audiovisual learning aids are used in class and are available in the Library. Grading is pass/fall in the first year. In years two through four, grading is A-F with a C constituting a passing grade. Passing the USMLE Step 1 is a requirement for promotion to the third year.

Clinical Training:

Patient contact begins during year one in the ECM course, which extends through year two. Year three consists of required core clerkships in Family Medicine (6 weeks); Internal Medicine (8 weeks); Neurology (4 weeks); Obstetrics/Gynecology (6 weeks); Pediatrics (6 weeks); Psychiatry (4 weeks); and Surgery (8 weeks). In addition to having an opportunity to do a 4-week elective in the third year, students participate in a 2-week intersession or mini-clerkship on the care of the chronically and terminally ill patient. Core clerkships take place at the Augusta University Health System, the Children’s Hospital of Georgia, the regional campuses, and various affiliated hospitals and community-based teaching sites throughout the state. Students may rotate to affiliated community hospitals for part of the core curriculum. During year four, students must complete 4 week clerkships in Adult Ambulatory Medicine and Emergency Medicine. In addition, students must complete a Critical Care selective plus an acting internship in either Family Medicine, Medicine, Neurology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, or Surgery. The remainder of the fourth year is for elective study that can include both clinical and research opportunities. In addition to passing USMLE Step 2, students must complete a total of four, 4-week electives to fulfill the requirements for graduation.

Longitudinal Integrated Curriculum:

Students who attend the Northwest Clinical Campus parallel track learn the core content of the third year in a longitudinal integrated clerkship model. This model uses the same MCG competency-based objectives and clerkship content in a longitudinal manner over the entire third year. The individual clerkship goals, objectives, and methods of assessment are the same as for the other campuses. Students take one elective during the second half of the third year, as long as they are showing satisfactory progress in the content area of the elective. Students return to a traditional block schedule during the fourth year.

Augusta University is enhancing the educational opportunities for medical students through the development of double degree programs and areas of concentration. These educational possibilities expand the academic diversity of our physician graduates who will enter the work force. Students choosing the option of a double degree program will receive the MD/MBA or MD/MPH degree at the conclusion of the program of study, usually in 5 years.

Curriculum & Credit Hours for Main Campus Students


Phase 1: Organ and System Based Modules and ECM 1


Phase 2: Cellular and Systems Disease States and ECM2


Phase 3 - Year 3


Students must satisfactorily complete all of the requirements of Phase 2 before entering Phase 3. Students must pass USMLE Step I  to enter the third year curriculum.

Phase 3 - Year 4


Senior Year Requirements:

Senior students must successfully complete 4 months of selectives (one Acting Internship in Medicine, Family Medicine, Neurology, Pediatrics, OB/GYN, or Surgery, a clerkship in Emergency Medicine, a Critical Care rotation, and an Adult Ambulatory Selective), and 3 months of electives.

If a senor student did not complete a third year elective, then a fourth elective is required in the senior year to fulfill graduation requirements. At least one of the three senior electives done in the fourth year must be on campus. On-campus electives are defined as those taken at Medical College of Georgia Hospital, University Hospital (but not a private physician’s office), or Veterans Administration Hospital, Augusta. Electives taken at other locations in Augusta are classified as off-campus electives.

Because electives provide students the opportunity to broaden their training, students are advised to complete more than the minimum requirement of electives.

Please refer to the Elective Bulletin published by the School of Medicine. 

Curriculum & Credit Hours for Athens Campus Students


First- and second-year students study basic and clinical science in a hybrid curriculum that makes extensive use of small group learning, supplemented by large group interactive sessions. Previous department-based courses such as biochemistry, physiology, and microbiology are integrated and presented in the context of clinical problems to encourage a more logical sequence of learning and to highlight the clinical relevance of the basic sciences. This helps students learn in a context that more directly applies to how they will care for patients.

The emphasis on an integrated approach to teaching and lifelong learning begins in the first year to help students learn the structure and function of the human body as well as understand social and behavioral aspects of medicine. It continues in the second year, which emphasizes pathophysiology and clinical decision making. Basic science is also revisted through the clinical skills course.

Required and elective third- and fourth-year clerkships are available in private practices, community clinics, and hospitals. These two years involve the application of the knowledge acquired in the basic sciences and essentials of clinical medicine in a clinical setting. As in Augusta, the third year consists of clinical rotations in the core disciplines of medicine. The fourth year lasts 11 months and consists of electives and selectives.

Phase 1:


Phase 2:


Phase 3 - Year 3


Students must satisfactorily complete all of the requirements of Phase 2 before entering Phase 3. Students must pass USMLE Step I to enter the third year curriculum.

Students will complete their core clerkships and electives at hospitals and community based training sites throughout Northeast Georgia. All core clerkships and the intersession in the care for chronically ill and terminally ill patients occur in the catchment area for the Medical Partnership Campus.

Phase 3 - Year 4


Senior students must successfully complete four months of selectives including an Acting Internship (in Family Medicine, Medicine, Neurology, OB/GYN, Pediatrics or Surgery), and four week experiences in Emergency Medicine, Critical Care and Adult Ambulatory Care. In addition, students must complete AT LEAST three months of electives. If a senior student did not complete a third year elective, then a fourth elective is required in the senior year to fulfill graduation requirements. At least one of the three senior electives done in the fourth year must be completed within the MCG system to include the Medical Partnership campus, the Main campus or any of the regional campuses. Students are required to pass both portions of the USMLE Step II to be eligible to graduate.

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