Spokane Foundations Site Information

The sample schedules below will help give you a sense of your general daily commitments. However, there are many times when this schedule will vary.

*Preceptorship Experience begins in January 2025

Orientation: Orientation will run from Wednesday, July 10th, through Wednesday, July 17th. The orientation schedule will differ from the typical class schedule above but generally will be 9 am – 5 pm. Attendance is required for matriculation.

Class time: After Orientation, students will generally have 4 hours of class every day, Monday through Friday.

In-person vs. Online: We expect all students to participate in instruction and assessments (including multiple-choice question exams and anatomical pin tests) in person. Online participation will be permitted due to personal illness or family emergency (see attendance policy) and is granted by the Foundation’s Dean’s approval.

Block teaching: Your first two blocks (6 weeks each) are Fundamentals of Medical Science & Research (FMR) and Infections & Immunity (I&I). Both will have a weekly exam and a cumulative final exam. A component of the block curriculum is small group case presentations. Students should come to small groups prepared to work through problems in a student-led, case-based discussion format. Student participation in group discussions not only cements the learning objectives but also builds skills in group presentation, important for your clerkships. Attendance is required in all small groups.

Foundations of Clinical Medicine (FCM) Immersion: Immersion will run from Wednesday, September 4th through Friday, September 13th. All instruction will be in-person, and participation is required for all sessions. See the typical Immersion schedule above.

FCM Clinical Skills Workshops: Workshops begin in September after Immersion. All instruction will be in-person, and participation is required for all sessions. See “FCM Introduction” below.

FCM Hospital Tutorials: Hospital tutorials also begin after Immersion. Half of the students will complete their Hospital Tutorials on Tuesday mornings and the other half on Thursday mornings. See “FCM Introduction” below.

White Coat Ceremony: UWSOM Spokane’s White Coat Ceremony will be on the evening of Friday September 6th. More information to come, but in general this is an event you can invite family to attend and celebrate.

E-24 Foundations of Clinical Medicine (FCM) Course: Spokane

Dan Yang, MD | Palouse College Head & Immersion Co-Director
Laura Spence, MD | Selkirk College Head & Immersion Co-Director
Leigh Bishop, MD | Palouse College FCM Co-Director
Anne Lee, MD | Selkirk College FCM Co-Director
Darin Eckert, MD | PCP Director

The Foundations of Clinical Medicine (FCM) Course is a longitudinal, comprehensive clinical skills program covering the fundamentals of doctoring with four integrated and complementary elements. The goal is to ensure that students have a firm foundation on which to continue to build their clinical skills and professional identity when they begin clerkships FCM begins the week after Labor Day with the Immersion block, which introduces students to clinical medicine, extends through the Foundations Phase, and culminates in the Transition to Clerkships course. In Spokane, it is primarily taught by twelve faculty members, the College Faculty, who teach all students in Immersion and Clinical Skills Workshops. They also serve as “College Mentor” to a fixed small group of 5 students for Hospital Tutorial teaching and support that small group through all four years of medical school.

The four integrated elements of FCM are:

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; physical exam; introduction to professionalism and the culture of medicine.

Hospital Tutorials: Students work consistently with a faculty mentor and a consistent 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 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, also reviewed by the mentor. Students have their Hospital Tutorial morning on either Tuesday or Thursday on alternate weeks..

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

Primary Care Practicum (PCP): Starting in January, students will work in the same primary care physician’s office for most of the Foundations Phase in a longitudinal experience emphasizing outpatient clinical skills, patient relationships and continuity, chronic care, and teamwork. In the clinic, students can apply many of the skills they learned in Immersion, Clinical Skills Workshops and Hospital Tutorials. Students have their PCP on alternate Wednesdays and will spend a half-day in their PCP setting.

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.