S100 Weeks

Preparation for Residency

The fourth year of the medical education program, "Preparation for Residency (PREP)," includes three required Acting Internships (AIs).

The overarching goal of the Core Acting Internships is to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to enter and succeed in delivering safe patient care beginning day one of the internship.

The three 4-week Core Acting Internships (AIs) are specifically designed to prepare students for the level of responsibility and supervision expected of an intern. To do so, the AIs utilize the core entrustable professional activities (EPAs) endorsed by the AAMC. The AIs can be tailored to an individual student's area of interest. For example, a student pursuing a career in pediatrics could meet the critical care requirement with an AI in the Pediatric ICU or the Neonatal ICU, and the emergency medicine requirement with an AI in the Pediatric ED.

AI Description and Goals

Each student must complete a 4-week AI in each of the three categories:

 

Medicine AIs allow the student to assume primary responsibility for patient care under the direct supervision of an attending physician and residents. The students are fully integrated into the medical team and have authentic patient care with independent learning and clinical reasoning commiserate of an intern. The students will perform the primary assessment, diagnosis and treatment of patients with varied presentations. Their responsibilities include writing notes, orders, acting on laboratory and radiologic tests, calling and following-up with consultants and disposition. This requirement can be met via an AI in one of the following specialties: Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Family Practice or Surgery

Acting Internship Goals

  • To equip students with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to enter internship and succeed in residency training.
  • To provide students with a progressive level of responsibility for caring for an increasing number of patients, under the direction and supervision of a resident and an attending physician.

Critical Care AIs provide students with an authentic role in caring for critically ill patients. During the Critical Care AIs, students are expected to assume the role of an incoming intern and have primary responsibility for patients under the direct supervision of an attending, fellow or resident. As part of our goal to better prepare students for residency, students can choose to rotate through the Medical ICU, the Cardiac ICU, the Surgical ICU, the Pediatric ICU, the Neonatal ICU or the Neurosurgical ICU.

Acting Internship Goals

  • To equip students with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to understand the multi-organ system and multi-disciplinary approach to caring for critically ill patients
  • To provide students with an authentic role in caring for critically ill patients, under the direction and supervision of a resident, fellow, and an attending physician

Similar to the other AIs, the students assume the role of an intern and have primary care responsibilities for patients under the supervision of residents and attendings. As part of our goal to better prepare students for residency, students are given the opportunity to rotate through the Pediatric ED at CCMC, Adult ED at NS and LIJ or the General (combined adult and pediatric) EDs at SSH, FHH or LHH.

Acting Internship Goals

  • Provide students with a diverse experience in Emergency Medicine which allow them to practice the initial diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to the care and management of acutely ill or injured adult (or pediatric) patients with medical, traumatic, or non-traumatic surgical problems
  • Heighten student knowledge of and appreciation for the unique features, advantages, and challenges associated with the providing patient-centered healthcare in the Emergency Department
  • Provide the students the opportunity to complete any required clinical experience that they were not able to complete during their Advanced Clinical Experience.

In addition, students are expected to complete five (4)-week blocks of elective time (20 weeks in total), either at one of our clinical sites in New York City or Long Island or at outside institutions of their choosing. Types of electives include:

  • Research elective (Ex. Medicine: Research)
  • External elective (Ex. Medicine: External)
  • Global external elective (Ex. Global: Ecuador, Uganda)
  • Students may elect to take an additional acting internship for elective credit
  • Preceptorships

Students are encouraged to spend at least half of their elective time in areas complementary to, but distinct from, their primary field of interest. 

Finally, students are given three (4)-week blocks of "Professional Development" time to dedicate to residency interviewing or Step 2 preparation.