Medicine MDCN
Instruction offered by members of the Faculty of Medicine.
First Year Courses
Medicine 320 (190 hours)
Medical Skills
The medical skills required by students learning to optimize the physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being of patients (and self). Components include Communication, Physical Examination, Clinical Correlations, Ethics, Culture, Health and Wellness, and Well Physician.
Medicine 340 (118 hours)
Healthy Populations
Students will learn about concepts of health and disease as they apply to populations, communities, and individual patients. Risks to health in the workplace, health care setting and community (including epidemics) will be considered. The roles of health promotion and disease prevention will be presented. Epidemiology, biostatistics, study design, clinical informatics, evidence based-medicine (including critical appraisal), research methods, and health care systems will be covered.
Medicine 350 (244 hours)
Integrated Fever/Sore Throat, Blood and Gastrointestinal Course
Integrated Clinical Presentations related to the Blood and Gastro-Intestinal systems. Students will learn how to diagnose, investigate and manage patients presenting with such clinical presentations as fever, sore throat, anemia, bruising and bleeding, weight loss, difficulty swallowing, abdominal pain, jaundice, diarrhea, etc.
Medicine 360 (156 hours)
Integrated Musculoskeletal and Special Senses Course
Integrated Clinical Presentations related to the Musculoskeletal System and Special Senses. Students will learn how to diagnose, investigate and manage clinical presentations such as painful limb, joint pain, fractures and dislocations, skin lesions, visual loss, double vision, ear pain, hearing loss, etc.
Medicine 370 (248 hours)
Integrated Cardiovascular and Respiratory Course
Integrated Clinical Presentations related to the Cardiovascular and Respiratory systems. Students will learn how to diagnose, investigate and manage clinical presentations such as chest pain, loss of consciousness, palpitations, shock, heart murmur, shortness of breath, cough, etc.
Medicine 380 (246 hours)
Integrated Renal-Electrolyte and Endocrine-Metabolic Course
Integrated Clinical Presentations related to the Renal and Endocrine systems. Students will learn how to diagnose, investigate and manage clinical presentations such as acute and chronic renal failure, generalized edema, hypertension, abnormal electrolytes, neck mass, abnormalities of blood lipids, diabetes, etc.
Medicine 390 (2 weeks)
First Year Elective
The student selects an area of medicine of particular interest for more in depth study or research. Studies may be done in centres other than Calgary. Students may consider medical experiences in developing world nations through the International Electives Program. All experiences must be evaluated by a preceptor.
Second Year Courses
Medicine 402 (4 weeks)
Second Year Elective
The student selects an area of medicine of particular interest for more in depth study. Studies may be done in centres other than Calgary. Students are encouraged to consider experiences in developing world nations through the International Electives Program. All experiences must be evaluated by a preceptor.
Medicine 420 (90 hours)
Medical Skills
The medical skills required by students learning to optimize the physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being of patients (and self). Components include Communication, Physical Examination, Clinical Correlations, Informatics, Ethics, Culture, Health and Wellness, Well Physician and Procedural Skills.
Medicine 440 (80 hours)
Applied Evidence Based Medicine
Applied Evidence Based Medicine provides an opportunity to explore in depth an area of particular interest to each student. Students under the supervision of a preceptor may complete a research project. Others may pursue a clinical experience utilizing critical appraisal skills to address questions related to prognosis, investigation and/or treatment. Alternatively, students may pursue supervised electives in such areas as History of Medicine, Pathology, Health Economics, Community Health, Palliative Care, Rehabilitation Medicine, etc.
Medicine 450 (166 hours)
Integrated Neurosciences and Aging Course
Integrated Clinical Presentations related to the Neuroscience system and Aging. Students will learn how to diagnose, investigate and manage clinical presentations such as muscle weakness, head and spinal injuries, gait disturbance, dizziness, speech and language disturbance, seizures, acute confusion, headache, dementia, falls, dying patient, etc.
Medicine 460 (204 hours)
Integrated Reproductive Medicine and Infant/Child Course
Integrated Clinical Presentations related to Reproductive Medicine and Pediatrics. Students will learn how to diagnose, investigate and manage pregnancy, contraception, pelvic pain, infertility, breast mass, the well and unwell newborn, childhood communicable diseases, etc.
Medicine 470 (102 hours)
Integrated Mind and Family Course
Integrated Clinical Presentations related to the Mind and Family. Students will learn how to diagnose, investigate and manage clinical presentations such as substance abuse and drug addiction, suicidal behaviour, panic and anxiety, psychoses, mood disorders, personality disorders, family violence, etc.
Medicine 480 (56 hours)
Integrative Course
Students work in small groups with a tutor and standardized patients (actors) to further improve their skills in interviewing, communication, physical examination, diagnosing and patient management. Basic science and clinical information across organ systems are integrated with an emphasis on clinical problem-solving ability through the generation and testing of hypotheses.
Medicine 490 (56 hours)
Introduction to Clerkship Course
Students are introduced to topics related to senior medical student responsibilities (clerk) such as writing orders, using the regional diagnostic and laboratory services, as well as more advanced ECG, radiological and procedural skills.
Third Year Courses
The third and final year is called the Clinical Clerkship. The total period of studies in the Clinical Clerkship constitutes 54 weeks, of which 46 weeks must be clinical studies. During this time, students work on hospital wards, in ambulatory care clinics and doctors' offices as well as in the Emergency Room. All students will spend from 4 to 10 weeks in community hospitals in Southern Alberta learning Family Medicine as well as some specialties. During the clerkship students rotate through a variety of specialties spending from 4-12 weeks in each. These specialties include: Anesthesia, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Surgery, Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Obstetrics and Gynecology. Students also have 10 weeks of elective experience chosen from the courses listed below (Medicine 514). During this time students will apply the knowledge learned in the first 2 years and their clinical skills toward the solution of the most common clinical presentations. Students will evaluate patients and properly manage their medical problems by conducting a comprehensive medical history and thorough physical examination, formulating accurate hypotheses as to the causes and solution of their clinical problems, formulating and implementing a management plan to deal effectively with the problems. Students will demonstrate the fundamental concepts of disease prevention and health promotion for individual patients and incorporate them into treatments plans as appropriate. Students will communicate and interact effectively with patients, families, medical staff and others involved in the delivery of health services. During this time students will accept increasing responsibility in patient care as the final year advances. Students will be working with multi-disciplinary clinical teams of nurses, physiotherapists, residents and faculty. Students will develop and apply high ethical principles and standards in all aspects of medical practice and will exhibit appropriate personal and interpersonal professional behaviours. In the clerkship, as in the whole of the curriculum, it will be clear that physicians can serve patients to the highest possible standards only if they continually acquire new knowledge and skills for as long as they practice medicine.
Participation in Outreach Rotations: The clerkship program includes several community centres such as Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Red Deer, and rural sites such as Brooks, Fort Macleod and Pincher Creek, etc. Students should expect to do from 4 - 10 weeks of their clinical clerkship outside the city of Calgary except in unusual circumstances.
Note: There are two weeks set aside in January of the third year for students to attend interviews for their residency application within the process of the Canadian Residency Matching Service (CaRMS).
Medicine 502 (4 weeks)
Family Medicine
During this 4-week block the learning experience will consist of mostly clinical experience in a community setting with a pre and post seminar that will take place in the Medical School on the first and last Friday of the block, respectively. Common clinical problems associated with Family Medicine will be emphasized. The four principles of Family Medicine as identified by the College of Family Physicians of Canada will be highlighted.
502.01. Family Medicine
Medicine 504 (12 weeks)
Internal Medicine
During this 12-week block, clerks will develop their diagnostic and problem-solving skills by participating in a variety of clinical experiences and formal teaching rounds. The clinical experiences will consist of: a 4-week Medical Teaching Unit rotation, a 4-week rotation on a more inpatient-based subspecialty, and two 2-week rotations on a more outpatient/consultative subspecialty. Formal teaching sessions include weekly bedside teaching, clinical Pharmacology, medical emergencies and "case of the week" rounds.
504.01. Internal Medicine
Medicine 506 (8 weeks)
Surgery
This 8-week rotation begins with a seminar series in the first week, covering a wide-range of surgical problems and specialties. Subsequently, students will rotate through General Surgery (4 weeks), Urology (1 week) and either Orthopedics or Plastic Surgery (2 weeks). These rotations will enhance clerks' clinical and procedural skills, including such topics as aseptic operating room technique/protocols, simple suturing and urethral catheterization.
506.01. Surgery
Medicine 508 (6 weeks)
Pediatrics
This 6-week rotation will provide clerks with a learning experience in Pediatric Medicine, emphasizing clinical skills and problem solving pertaining to common pediatric problems. The experience will build upon knowledge and skills (including history taking and physical examination of newborns/infants/children/adolescents) previously gained in the first two years of the medical undergraduate curriculum, and will prepare the student for subsequent residency. The experiences shall be broad-based involving both ambulatory and hospital-based patients, and shall include newborn care, and care of children and adolescents up to the age of 18 years.
508.01. Pediatrics
Medicine 510 (6 weeks)
Psychiatry
This 6-week rotation will develop the clerks' understanding of the psychiatric patient. Clerks will develop clinical skills in Psychiatry in order to perform a psychiatric assessment and to demonstrate the basic principles of management of psychiatric clinical presentations with integration of basic knowledge obtained from the non-clinical setting. Students will perform a variety of assessments including: child and adolescent behavioural and learning assessments, elderly cognitive function, risk of fall, and competency assessments, safety assessments for suicide, abuse, and mental status examinations. They will order appropriate investigations including: collateral information, diagnostic imaging, laboratory and psychological and other functional assessments, etc.
510.01. Psychiatry
Medicine 512 (6 weeks)
Obstetrics and Gynecology
During this 6-week block clerks will receive a broad exposure to women's health and focus on details essential to the practice of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Clerks will experience direct patient care in both outpatient and inpatient settings, spend a 5-week block at either a community hospital in Calgary or Medicine Hat Regional hospitals, or at a tertiary care hospital. Clerks will develop history taking and physical examinations skills appropriate to obstetric and gynecology patients and will participate in deliveries. Fetal assessment, maternal fetal medicine, colposcopy, low risk obstetrics, infertility and urogynecology will also be covered during this rotation.
512.01. Obstetrics and Gynecology
Medicine 514 (10 weeks)
Clerkship Electives
During these mandatory 10 weeks of clerkship, clerks will choose electives from the range of potential medical domains. Ten weeks of mandatory elective time must be completed during the clerkship year with a minimum of two weeks on any one elective block.
514.01. Family Medicine
514.02. Complementary Medicine
514.03. Hospitalist Medicine
514.04. Anesthesia
514.05. Public Health
514.06. International Health
514.07. Emergency Medicine
514.08. Cardiology
514.09. Dermatology
514.10. Endocrinology
514.11. Gastroenterology
514.12. General Internal Medicine
514.13. Geriatric Medicine
514.14. Palliative Care
514.15. Hematology
514.16. Immunology and Allergy
514.17. Infectious Diseases
514.18. ICU-Trauma
514.19. Nephrology
514.20. Medical Oncology
514.21. Neurology
514.22. Clinical Pharmacology
514.23. Pulmonary Medicine
514.24. Rheumatology
514.25. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
514.26. Cardiac Surgery
514.27. Thoracic Surgery
514.28. Vascular Surgery
514.29. General Surgery
514.30. Neurosurgery
514.31. Ophthalmology
514.32. Orthopedic Surgery
514.33. Otolaryngology
514.34. Plastic Surgery
514.35. Sport Medicine
514.36. Transplant Surgery
514.37. Trauma Surgery
514.38. Urology
514.39. Developmental Pediatrics
514.40. General Pediatrics
514.41. Neonatology
514.42. Pediatric Anesthesia
514.43. Pediatric Cardiology
514.44. Pediatric Critical Care Medicine
514.45. Pediatric Emergency Medicine
514.46. Pediatric Endocrinology
514.47. Pediatric Gastroenterology
514.48. Pediatric Hematology
514.49. Pediatric Infectious Diseases
514.50. Pediatric Nephrology
514.51. Pediatric Neurology
514.52. Pediatric Oncology
514.53. Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine
514.54. Pediatric Rheumatology
514.55. Pediatric Surgery
514.56. General Psychiatry
514.57. Child Psychiatry
514.58. Adolescent Medicine
514.59. Family Therapy
514.60. Neuropsychiatry
514.61. Psychiatric Assessment Services
514.62. Psychiatric Consultation Liaison
514.63. Forensic Psychiatry
514.64. General Obstetrics and Gynecology
514.65. High Risk Obstetrics
514.66. Low Risk Obstetrics
514.67. Maternal Fetal Medicine
514.68. Urogynecology
514.69. Gynecologic Oncology
514.70. General Pathology
514.71. Forensic Pathology
514.72. Surgical Pathology
514.73. Molecular Pathology
514.74. Neuropathology
514.75. Oncologic Pathology
514.76. Renal and Transplant Pathology
514.77. Medical Genetics
514.78. Diagnostic Radiology
514.79. Radiation Oncology
514.80. Nuclear Medicine
514.81. Research
514.82. Other
Medicine 516
Anesthesia
During this 2-week rotation, students work daily with a preceptor in the hospital setting. In addition, four areas of anesthesia will be covered: procedural skills, resuscitation, pharmacology as well as an overview of anesthesia topics including: preoperative assessment, pain management and others. Clerks will practice intravenous cannulation, bag and mask ventilation, jaw thrust, laryngeal mask and airway insertion and airway and endotracheal intubation in a controlled setting.
516.01. Anesthesia
Medicine 520
Medical Skills
The medical skills required by students learning to optimize the physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being of patients (and self). Components include Communication, Physical Examination, Clinical Correlations, Informatics, Ethics, Culture, Health and Illness, and Well Physician. These components run as a theme throughout the entire clerkship program.