University of Calgary : Medicine MDCN

Medicine MDCN

MDCN 300 320 330 340 345 350 360 370 400 402 410 420 430 445 450 460 470 480 485 490 495 500 502 504 506 508 510 512 514 515 516 520 522

For more information about these courses, see ucalgary.ca/mdprogram/current-students.

First Year Courses

Medicine 300

Anatomy I

Gross anatomy of the gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Students will study the functional anatomy of each system using a variety of representations of anatomical structures in clinical context.
Course Hours: (36 hours)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 320

Medical Skills

The fundamental elements of history-taking and physical examinations, basic procedures (e.g., suturing), as well as other essential skills necessary for functioning as physicians, such as ethical analysis, social health issues, teamwork, and self-care.
Course Hours: (126 hours)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 330

Family Medicine Clinical Experience

A one-on-one student/preceptor experience in rural and urban community clinics in southern Alberta where family physicians deliver generalist care, diagnose and manage most presenting complaints and see patients over time.

Course Hours: (24 hours)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 340

Population Health

Concepts of health and disease as they apply to populations, communities and individual patients. The determinants of health and the distribution of disease within and between populations will be explored. The roles of health promotion, health protection and disease prevention will be presented. Students will learn about the evolution and function of the Canadian health-care system in the context of current and historic challenges and international alternatives. Basic epidemiology and biostatistics as they apply to the core concepts of the course will be covered. Community experience with individuals and social/medical agencies is a core part of this course.
Course Hours: (62 hours)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 345

Applied Evidence-Based Medicine I

Critical appraisal of literature and application of evidence to practice. An introduction to evidence-based medicine concepts and applications. Options for electives include a research project, directed study project, or clinical experience where critical appraisal skills are used to address questions related to prognosis, diagnosis and/or treatment.
Course Hours: (28 hours)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 350

Introduction to Medicine, Blood and Gastrointestinal Course

Integrated clinical presentations related to the blood and gastrointestinal systems. Students will learn how to diagnose, investigate and manage patients presenting with such clinical presentations as fever, anemia, bruising and bleeding, weight loss, difficulty swallowing, abdominal pain, jaundice, diarrhea, etc. General principles of medicine as a whole will be presented, including concepts of history and physical examination taking, as well as principles of investigations such as test sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value. This course will also introduce fundamental concepts of anatomy, histology, pathology and radiology. An approach to problems in infectious diseases and information regarding self-protection equipment and skills is provided.
Course Hours: (207 hours)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 360

Integrated Musculoskeletal and Dermatology Course

Integrated clinical presentations related to the musculoskeletal system and dermatology. Students will learn musculoskeletal anatomy as well the principles of diagnosis, investigation and management of clinical presentations such as painful limb, joint pain, fractures and dislocations, skin lesions, etc.
Course Hours: (103 hours)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 370

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, sore throat, etc.
Course Hours: (178 hours)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Second Year Courses

Medicine 400

Anatomy II

Gross anatomy of the urinary and reproductive systems, and introductory neuroanatomy. Students will study the functional anatomy of each system using a variety of representations of anatomical structures in clinical context.
Course Hours: (27 hours)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 402

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.
Course Hours: (3 weeks)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 410

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.
Course Hours: (184 hours)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 420

Medical Skills

Extends and advances the basic knowledge and skills developed in Medicine 320 to help prepare students for clerkship and clinical practice.
Course Hours: (82 hours)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 430

Family Medicine Clinical Experience

A clinical learning experience and continuation of Medicine 330. Students participate in the delivery of patient care in urban or rural community clinics throughout southern Alberta.

Course Hours: (24 hours)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 445

Applied Evidence-Based Medicine II

Builds on the didactic teaching from Medicine 345 and provides an opportunity to explore an area of particular interest to each student. Options for electives include participation in research, a directed study project, or a clinical experience where critical appraisal skills are used to address questions related to prognosis, diagnosis and/or treatment.
Course Hours: (30 hours)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 450

Integrated Neurosciences, Special Senses and Aging Course

Integrated clinical presentations related to the neuroscience system, special senses, pain, palliative care 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, acute and chronic pain, dying patient, visual loss, double vision, ear pain, hearing loss, etc.
Course Hours: (187 hours)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 460

Children and Women's Health

Integrated clinical presentations related to reproductive medicine and paediatrics. Students will learn how to diagnose, investigate and manage pregnancy, contraception, pelvic pain and associated diseases, infertility, and breast concerns. An overview of paediatric topics are presented, including the well and unwell newborn, the pre-term infant, common childhood infectious diseases, typical paediatric ambulatory problems, developmental disorders, paediatric emergency medicine, and an introduction to genetics.
Course Hours: (155 hours)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 470

Psychiatry

Students will learn how to diagnose, investigate and manage clinical presentations such as substance abuse and drug addiction, suicidal behaviour, panic and anxiety, psychosis, mood disorders, personality disorders, etc.
Course Hours: (76 hours)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 480

Integrative Course I

Students work in small groups with a tutor and standardized patients (actors), further improve 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.
Course Hours: (11 hours)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 485

Integrative Course II

A continuation from Medicine 480. Students continue to 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.
Course Hours: (11 hours)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 490

Introduction to Clinical Practice I

Prepare for clinical rotations by learning and practicing knowledge, skills, and attitudes relevant to all specialties. Students are immersed in practical, hands-on sessions, where unique teaching methodologies such as simulation, role-playing, and gamification enhance student engagement and learning retention. Topics include acute care approaches, teamwork skills, patient safety, communication skills, and interpretation of diagnostic results.
Course Hours: (20 hours)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 495

Introduction to Clinical Practice II

A continuation from Medicine 490. Prepare for clinical rotations by learning and practicing knowledge, skills, and attitudes relevant to all specialties. Students are immersed in practical, hands-on sessions, where unique teaching methodologies such as simulation, role-playing, and gamification enhance student engagement and learning retention. Topics including acute care approaches, teamwork skills, patient safety, communication skills, and interpretation of diagnostic results.
Course Hours: (13 hours)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Third Year Courses

The third and final year is called the Clinical Clerkship. The total period of studies in the Clinical Clerkship constitutes 58 weeks. During this time, students work on hospital wards, in ambulatory care clinics and doctors' offices as well as in emergency departments. All students will spend a minimum of 4 weeks in rural/regional sites in Southern Alberta learning Family Medicine as well as some specialties. During the clerkship students rotate through a variety of specialties spending from 2-8 weeks in each. These specialties include: Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Surgery, Psychiatry, Paediatrics, Emergency Medicine, Anaesthesia, and Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Students also have 14 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 a minimum of 4 weeks of their clinical clerkship outside the city of Calgary except in unusual circumstances.

Notes:

There are three weeks set aside in January of the third year for students to attend the National Resident Interview Period for their residency application within the process of the Canadian Residency Matching Service (CaRMS).
Up to 30 students per year may have the opportunity to achieve the objectives and evaluation requirements of the above stated disciplines in the University of Calgary Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (UCLIC) an experience consisting of:
- 32 weeks in a longitudinal rural preceptorship
- 12 weeks of urban medicine (4 weeks Internal Medicine, 4 weeks Paediatrics, 4 weeks Surgery)
- 14 weeks electives.

Medicine 500

Clinical Re-orientation

Clinical re-orientation allows students who are transferring from another program or who have had an extended time away from the Medical Doctor Program. Participation in this course will be part of the students’ return to their study learning plan and will include interviewing, physical examinations and evaluations in clinical settings as required.
Course Hours: (up to 4 weks)
Prerequisite(s): Consent of the Associate Dean, UME.
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 502

Family Medicine

Two placements in urban or regional/rural community family medicine practice. Common clinical problems associated with family medicine are emphasized along with the diverse roles, as defined by CanMeds-FM, that a family physician may play in their particular community and for their patients. Two experiential learning projects are completed during the block that explore specific topics relevant to family medicine.

502.01. Family Medicine

502.99. Family Medicine

Course Hours: (8 weeks)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 504

Internal Medicine

Develop diagnostic, problem-solving, and management skills by participating in a variety of clinical experiences and formal teaching rounds. Students will have the opportunity to be at the front-lines of patient care, and will often be the primary representative of the medical team to their patients. The clinical experiences will consist of one of the following options:

1. One four-week Medical Teaching Unit rotation, and two two-week rotations on an outpatient/consultative subspecialty.

2. One four-week Medical Teaching Unit rotation and one four-week ICU rotation.

Formal teaching sessions include weekly bedside teaching, formal teaching sessions during protected time, and rotation-specific rounds.

504.01. Internal Medicine

504.99. Internal Medicine

Course Hours: (8 weeks)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 506

Surgery

A wide-range of surgical problems and specialties. Students will rotate through one of the following:

1. One three-week General Surgery rotation and one three-week Orthopedic Surgery rotation;

2. One three-week General Surgery rotation and one two-week rotation in either Orthopedic Surgery, Plastic Surgery or Urological Surgery along with one one-week selective in either Urology, Vascular Surgery, Thoracic Surgery, Neurosurgery, Otolaryngology or Trauma Surgery.

506.01. Surgery

506.99. Surgery

Course Hours: (6 weeks)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 508

Paediatrics

Experience in paediatric medicine, emphasizing clinical skills and problem-solving pertaining to common paediatric problems. 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. Paediatrics

508.99. Paediatrics

Course Hours: (6 weeks)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 510

Psychiatry

Develop understanding of the psychiatric patient, the skills to perform a psychiatric assessment and the management of psychiatric clinical presentations with integration of basic knowledge obtained from the non-clinical setting. Clerks will perform a variety of assessments including: child and adolescent behavioural and learning assessments, elderly cognitive function, 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. Four weeks of the rotation are spent in adult psychiatry and two weeks in child psychiatry.

510.01. Psychiatry

510.99. Psychiatry

Course Hours: (6 weeks)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 512

Obstetrics and Gynaecology

A broad exposure to women's health and focus on the practice of obstetrics and gynaecology. Develop history taking and physical examinations skills appropriate to obstetrics and gynaecology patients and participate in deliveries, fetal assessment, maternal fetal medicine, colposcopy, low risk obstetrics, infertility and urogynaecology in both outpatient and inpatient settings. Clerks will spend a five-week block at either a community hospital in Calgary or Medicine Hat Regional hospitals, or at a tertiary care hospital.

512.01. Obstetrics and Gynaecology

512.99. Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Course Hours: (6 weeks)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 514

Clerkship Electives

During these mandatory 14 weeks of clerkship, clerks will choose electives from the range of potential medical domains. Fourteen weeks of mandatory elective time must be completed during the clerkship year with a minimum of two weeks on any one elective block.

Course Hours: (14 weeks)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 515

Extended Clerkship Electives

During extended clerkship student are required to complete mandatory weeks of clerkship electives based on the decision by the Student Academic Review Committee (SARC). Clerks will choose electives from the range of potential medical disciplines. Mandatory elective time must be completed during the extended clerkship year with a minimum of two weeks on any one elective block.

515.01. Clerkship Elective 1-26 weeks

515.02. Clerkship Elective 1–26 weeks

515.03. Clerkship Elective 1-26 weeks

Course Hours: (up to 26 weeks)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 516

Anaesthesia

Students work daily with a preceptor in the hospital setting. Four areas of anaesthesia will be covered: procedural skills, resuscitation, pharmacology as well as an overview of anaesthesia 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. Anaesthesia

516.99. Anaesthesia

Course Hours: (2 weeks)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 520

Comprehensive Clinical Skills Curriculum for Clerkship

Integrate basic and clinical science, improve diagnostic reasoning, communication and clinical skills, and apply knowledge gained during the foundational courses in medicine to the clinical setting. Content covered using a variety of formats, including high-fidelity simulation, standardized patients, small group cases, didactic lectures, and procedural workshops. Content is delivered over a 48-week period spanning the duration of the clerkship year.
Course Hours: (60 hours)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

Medicine 522

Emergency Medicine

Diagnostic and therapeutic challenges offered by emergency medicine, including the assessment and management of life-threatening illness. Access to all elements of health-care delivery, including discharge planning, outpatient care and referrals, direct interaction with consultants, ambulatory care and inpatient facilities, as well as diagnostic imaging. A minimum of seven shifts in an urban emergency room are scheduled at two teaching sites.

522.01 Emergency Medicine

522.99 Emergency Medicine

Course Hours: (2 weeks)
NOT INCLUDED IN GPA

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