Department of Surgery Clerkships and Electives
The Department of Surgery offers a mandatory medical student clerkship and surgery electives. Electives are also open to visiting students.
Clerkship Heading link
The Surgery Clerkship is a mandatory eight week curriculum for third year medical students. The learning objectives include recognition of disease states requiring surgery, critical planning for surgical intervention, understanding the principles of intervention, and post-operative evaluation and management of patients. Students spend five weeks on a General Surgery clinical service, two weeks on a Pediatric service, and one week on a General Surgery Night service.
Student responsibilities
Responsibilities of students include assessments and care of inpatients and outpatients, and active participation in surgical procedures. They are graded on performance objectives of Professional Development, Interpersonal and Communication Skills, History Taking, Physical Examination, Clinical Reasoning, Oral Presentation, Written Documentation, Operating Room Preparation and Knowledge, and Surgical Skills. It is expected all students will improve their understanding and practice of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education competency skills and these are inculcated into the student performance assessment. The students complete a required core surgical cases log, entering operations in which they have participated. A minimum experience of 45 procedures is required. Students are expected to participate in the education of their team by researching patient care issues and presenting their findings to their teams. Our residents complete the Residents as Teachers course at the school, and add a major component to the student learning.
Grading
The Surgery Clerkship final grade is derived from the performance evaluation of the students in the clinical setting and their score on the standardized Surgery examination of the National Boards of Medical Examiners.
Mentorship
Attending physicians and resident faculty mentor the students during the Clerkship. This provides student opportunity for collaboration with faculty on research projects leading to publications/presentation at local, regional and national meetings. Career counseling is also provided to students seeking careers in Surgery.
Electives Heading link
M3 and M4 students are able to take electives. Visit the Peoria campus electives page for full catalogs.
Details
In 2018/19 UICOMP began offering elective experiences to M3 students. These include 2 Ophthalmology, 1 Otolaryngology, 1 Orthopedic, 2 Plastic Surgery, and 2 Urology options. The following are available with completion of the M2 year:
- Ophthalmology (639.1)
- Ophthalmology (639.2)
- Otolaryngology (643.3)
- Orthopedic Surgery (642.2)
- Plastic Surgery (656.1)
- Plastic Surgery (656.2)
- Urology (683.1)
- Urology (683.2)
Otolaryngology, orthopedic surgery, and both plastic surgery electives are available with a prerequisite of completion of the 3rd year surgery clerkship
Details
The University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria Department of Surgery offers 24 different surgery electives for UICOMP, UICOM, and visiting students from all over the country. Most fourth year surgery electives have a prerequisite requirement of completion of all third year clerkships. If you are interested in general surgery or a surgery sub-specialty, the department recommends you take either Advanced General Surgery, Surgery Sub-Internship, Surgical Critical Care/Trauma and/or the Surgical Residency Preparedness Practicum.
For those students choosing a surgical career, the mentoring continues into the fourth year relative to:
- Career selection
- Strategies in the national residency match process
- Preparation for residency
- Senior curriculum selection
If you are a medical student interested in surgery, please reach out to be assigned a mentor. For more information and availability, contact the Surgery Elective Coordinator at 309-655-2383.
Details
We welcome visiting students to take our electives to learn more about our program and to get hands-on experience with our exceptional teaching faculty. Electives that are available to visiting students are:
- Advanced General Surgery
- Advanced Thoracic Surgery
- Cardiac Surgery
- Pediatric Surgery
- Pediatric & Congenital Heart Surgery
- Surgery Sub-Internship
- Surgical Critical Care/Trauma
All visiting students should have passed the Step 1 Exam and have their current transcripts available to confirm prerequisites. Please see the visiting students page for more information.
