Introduction
Medical Education at Rockford is characterized by an extended,
longitudinal, ambulatory experience at a University Primary
Care Clinic and by direct faculty involvement in student training.
The overall goal of the educational program is development
of competent, compassionate physicians fully capable of advanced
training. During the three years of undergraduate medical
education at Rockford, students and faculty focus on the following
goals
- mastery of the knowledge and skills common to all
physicians;
- internalization of professional attitudes
and demonstration of professional demeanor,
- acquisition of the interpersonal
skills needed to effectively interact with patients
and their families as well as other members of the
health care community;
- growth of an awareness that the practice
of medicine involves the comprehensive care of patients
rather than the treatment of disease;
- development of problem-solving skills
and the habits of self-education;
- formation of an ability to recognize,
adapt to, and influence future changes in medicine,
health care delivery and society.
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University Primary Care Clinics
At its founding, the University of Illinois College of Medicine
at Rockford established three University Primary Care Clinics
(UPCCs) to give medical students immediate access to the continuity
of patient care and to meet the need for health care in underserved
areas in small communities surrounding Rockford. Through this
innovative program, students benefit from a unique, longitudinal
patient care experience.
Beginning in the M2 year, students go to a UPCC once a week.
Each student is assigned a group of patients for whom the
student provides primary, ambulatory health care until graduation.
During the M2 year, students concentrate on histories and
physicals. By the M4 year, they plan the management of general
medical problems and are responsible for the care of approximately
75 - 100 families. Throughout the UPCC experience, students
work under the supervision of generalist physicians and are
able to progress at their own rate. No other medical school
in the country offers this length of time in the ambulatory
setting.
Faculty
The faculty body is composed of a core of
full-time faculty members and a much larger number of community
physicians. They form a close-knit cadre of practitioners
who are intimately interested in the education of students,
the advancement of the college of medicine, and the well-being
of the local community and its surrounding counties. Faculty
members actively seek to include students in their activities
and to share with students their concern for social and health
care issues. These efforts provide a stimulating, collegial
learning environment in which intellectual, professional and
personal growth are nurtured.
The faculty and administration enjoy working closely with
students and offer personal guidance and assistance to help
students learn the art and science of medicine. Students receive
a basic science faculty advisor to assist them with the M2
Year, easing the transition from Urbana to Rockford and helping
with studies. Students will have the opportunity to choose
a clinician to serve an M3/M4 advisor.
Faculty members offer students the opportunity to become
involved in basic or clinical research. Many students participate
in one or more research projects, with most culminating in
publication in professional journals. In recent years, several
Rockford students have achieved national recognition for their
work.
Many students have also been active in various community
projects and have developed an informal network of extracurricular
service opportunities that complement the formal educational
activities. An outgrowth of this activity has been the inclusion
of an Introduction to Community Medicine Project as part of
the M2 Pathophysiology in Clinical Medicine course.
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