Clinical Electives Program: Rehabilitation Medicine

Duration:  Four week session

Prerequisite:
Completion of Internal Medicine and Surgical Clerkships

Rotation Directors:
Jay P. Shah, M.D.
Galen O. Joe, M.D.

Rotation Description
The NIH Clinical Center (CC) is the site of intramural clinical research for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Each year, approximately 6,000 inpatients are admitted to the CC and another 105,000 individuals are seen in outpatient clinics. All patients are involved in clinical research protocols. The clerkship will be under the supervision of six fultime physiatrists in the CC Rehabilitation Medicine Department (RMD) who provide clinical and collaborative research support services to patients referred by the NIH institutes and Clinical Research Center. During their rotation in RMD, students will see a variety of patients in order to develop exposure to the extremely diverse disease population available at the NIH. This experience will help medical students understand the roles of medical rehabilitation as a process in a clinical research setting, rather than as the management of particular disease states or disabilities. Once the student has  been assigned a patient, he or she is expected to render quality care to that patient, regardless of the case load, and to keep track of quality assurance related issues for all patients seen.

The RMD is a clinical and clinical research consultation service and does not have an inpatient bed service. All patients are seen in consultation on referral from NIH Institutes and the CC. Students will generally see an average of three to four patients each day, depending on the case load and the availability of good teaching cases. Students may attend a variety of discipline specific educational rounds and specialty clinics within the NIH and the CC. There are no night calls or weekend duties associated with this rotation.

In addition to formalized teaching sessions, the student has access to the extensive facilities at the NIH Library, located on the first floor of the Warren G. Magnuson Building, and the National Library of Medicine, located at the South entrance of the NIH Campus. Students are encouraged to make regular visits to these facilities, and to read the current literature on rehabilitation medicine and related topics. As well as contributing to the student's knowledge base, doing so will help establish good habits which will last a lifetime.

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This page last updated on 07/06/2023

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