Family Medicine

I am currently on a 6-week rotation in family medicine in Santa Rosa, about 60 miles north of San Francisco. Family medicine is our dedicated outpatient rotation (we have a longitudinal outpatient experience and some clinics on Ob and Peds too) which is interesting since most of real-world medicine practiced today is outpatient. In Santa Rosa, we really get the gamut of family medicine; there are clinics in general family medicine, pediatrics, dermatology, HIV clinic, neurology, endocrinology, Indian health, and emergency room (the only thing missing is Ob). The cornerstone of family medicine here is a general medical clinic run by medical students. Guided by an attending, we see patients, come up with a differential, present, chart, and write up prescriptions. We try to make follow-up appointments on days we'll be at the clinic so that we get continuity of care. The schedule is medical student friendly; patients are allotted more time, and we typically see around 4 patients in a morning. We have general medical clinic 2-3 half-days a week. For the rest of the week, we have 2-3 half-days of didactics and about 5 half-days of the other clinics mentioned above. The schedule is amazingly flexible; every week, all my classmates and I (there are 4 of us) sit down and fill the calendar to meet our interests.