Montana Foundations Site Information

A Day in the Life of a medical student:

Class time: Students have four or five hours of class per day, with most days incorporating interactive learning or laboratories. A limited number of learning experiences may be scheduled outside of regular class hours. Class delivery methods vary by block and within a block. All blocks are designed to have predominantly active learning approaches. Students are expected to come prepared to participate in class discussions. All courses have periodic assessments and a final examination. Block objectives and core content for which students will be held accountable on exams will be the same across all WWAMI sites. Exams will have the same questions and format and be administered in person. The timing of exams may vary slightly across Foundation sites.

Block teaching (Fundamentals of Medical Science & Research and Infections & Immunity): Block teaching, including anatomy labs, are taught in person. Students unable to attend due to illness or other approved extenuating circumstances must contact the block lead regarding attending large and small group sessions remotely and/or makeup assignments, as applicable. Potential exam delays due to illness or other approved extenuating circumstances may only be granted by the Foundation Dean’s approval 

Your first two blocks are Fundamentals of Medical Science & Research and Infections & Immunity. Both will have a weekly exam on Monday mornings and a cumulative final exam.

Clinical Skills Workshop: See FCM Introduction below. Students will complete their clinical skills workshops in the WWAMI classrooms. These will be in the afternoon on alternate Tuesdays starting after FCM Immersion.

Hospital Tutorial: See FCM Introduction below. Students will be assigned to a faculty mentor and a small group of students with whom they will work throughout the Foundations Phase. The class will be divided into two groups, with half of the students completing their Hospital Tutorial mornings on Wednesdays and the other half completing their Hospital Tutorial mornings on Thursdays.

Foundations of Clinical Medicine (FCM) Course: Montana

Colette Kirchhoff, MD | FCM & Immersion Director
Zach Meyers, MD | College Head
Pamela Hiebert, MD | PCP Director

The Foundations of Clinical Medicine (FCM) Course is a comprehensive clinical skills program with four integrated and complementary elements. It begins with an Orientation to medical school and clinical medicine, then an Immersion block, which introduces students to the clinical interview, exam and professionalism FCM extends through the Foundations Phase, and culminates in the Transition to Clerkships.

The four integrated elements of FCM are:

Orientation and Immersion: FCM starts with intensive initial clinical skills training, including fundamentals of doctor-patient communication and medical interviewing; the content and structure of the medical database; basic physical exam; introduction to professionalism, resiliency, and the culture of medicine.

Hospital Tutorials: Students work consistently with a faculty mentor and a small group of peer students throughout their first 18 months. They have opportunities to practice the comprehensive history and physical examination with hospitalized patients and are observed by their College mentors who provide immediate formative feedback on their skills. During the second half of each tutorial morning, College mentors make every effort to return to see each patient with the group of students to demonstrate interviewing and exam techniques at the bedside. Students perform oral case presentations and complete written histories and physicals for each patient, which are also reviewed by the mentor. Students have their Hospital Tutorial morning on either Wednesday or Thursday in alternate weeks.

Clinical Skills Workshops: Students learn core communication, physical exam, clinical reasoning, teamwork skills, reflection, and resiliency skills in hands-on, interactive small group sessions closely aligned with the content of the Foundations blocks. They also cover other areas relevant to patient care, including interview techniques, behavioral medicine, chronic care, interprofessional healthcare, culinary medicine and other areas. Students usually have Clinical Skills Workshops every other Tuesday afternoon.

Primary Care Practicum (PCP): Starting in January, students will work in the same primary care physician’s office for the majority of the Foundations Phase in a longitudinal experience emphasizing outpatient clinical skills, patient relationships and continuity, chronic care, and teamwork. In the clinic, students will have the opportunity to apply many of the skills they learned in Clinical Skills Workshops and Hospital Tutorials. Students have their PCP on alternate Tuesdays if possible and spend half of the day in their PCP setting, though some flexibility in scheduling is possible for students with extenuating circumstances. Those with questions about scheduling should reach out to Dr. Hiebert- PCP Director.

Students requesting a disability accommodation for FCM or any blocks/courses need to contact Disability Resource Services (DRS) directly by contacting UW DRS (uwdrs@uw.edu) or http://depts.washington.edu/uwdrs/ as soon as possible AND before the start of immersion so that appropriate accommodations can be made available in a timely fashion to allow the student to participate fully. This process can take between 2-6 weeks once your medical documentation has been submitted. Accommodations cannot be implemented until a DRS evaluation has been completed and appropriate accommodations are determined.

If students have any questions, they can also contact Dr. Maya Sardesai (sardesai@uw.edu), assistant dean for student development, or Sarah Wood (sewood@uw.edu), director for student affairs.