The University of Toledo

Introduction to Fourth Year Clerkship

 Clinical Undergraduate Medical Education Year IV

 The goal of the fourth year of the curriculum at The University of Toledo College of Medicine is to prepare students for graduate medical education, which a student enters immediately upon graduation from medical school.

The wide spectrum of training programs that our students enter upon graduation and the high success rate that our students have in obtaining their choices for graduate training sites are a direct product of the training they receive in their third and fourth year clinical clerkships.

Students in their fourth year of medical school will have an opportunity for a broad spectrum of choices of elective clerkships.

The fourth year M.D. curriculum will be 44 weeks in duration, 36 weeks of which will be required elective time and 8 weeks available as “flex time”.  Of the 36 weeks of elective time, a minimum of 24 weeks must be clinical electives, including a minimum of 4 weeks of an Acting Internship (AI).  Of the remaining 12 weeks of elective time, a minimum of 4 weeks must be done in a basic science elective.  A maximum of 8 weeks can be completed in basic science electives or in other non-patient contact electives, including but not limited to Research, Spirituality, Bioethics and Medicine, Law and Medicine, and Fundamentals of Teaching.

A minimum of 12 weeks of elective clerkships must be taken at the University of Toledo College of Medicine or its affiliated locations (Mercy Health Partners, ProMedica Health Education and Research Corporation, Area Health Education Centers, Riverside Methodist Hospital, Mercy Health System, Ann Arbor and Livonia, Michigan, Henry Ford Health Care System, etc.).  Independent study electives cannot be used to satisfy this requirement.  (UTCOM Policy No. 04-012-01).

The remainder of the fourth year of medical school electives can be completed at any medical school in the United States or Canada with the approval of a sponsoring department at The University of Toledo. In addition, students can participate in international clerkships if they are approved by a sponsoring department at The University of Toledo's College of Medicine. This flexibility in the fourth year of the curriculum allows students to have a unique opportunity to tailor their curriculum to their own future medical education and practice needs. We, at The University of Toledo believe that this flexibility in our fourth year allows every student to have a unique and self-satisfying curriculum. During the third and fourth years of medical school, each student is required to complete eight to ten weeks of clinical experience in the Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) of The University of Toledo. This unique clinical environment allows students to participate in clerkships both required and elective in our regional communities. The major advantage of these experiences is to place students in smaller communities in a one-on-one structured relationship with physicians who are practicing in the community. Students find this experience most rewarding since they have a unique opportunity to spend at good deal of time with the preceptor and to have a sense of day-to-day medical practice issues away from the academic medical center

 Further information regarding the Fourth Year Electives and graduation requirements can be obtained by reviewing the “Fourth Year Curriculum Policy 3364-81-09-002-00” on the COM Policy website.