4th Year Medical Electives
Students serve as acting interns along with the family medicine patient care team on the family medicine hospital service at this 815-bed teaching hospital. Supervision will be by MAHEC family medicine residency faculty. Daily activities include rounds, conferences, patient work-ups, supervised procedures and other in-patient management. Students are included in the call schedule with the family practice residents on service (one Saturday).
Students will see Family Medicine continuity patients alongside MAHEC FM attendings and residents on our main Biltmore campus. Students will have the opportunity to see patients independently and then present the patient, including their plan, to the doctor seeing the patient. We encourage students to make a commitment to a plan of their own, documenting in the chart and truly practicing being an outpatient intern. Students on this rotation will have contact with a large number of faculty and residents and will experience practicing with integrated teams of behavioral medicine, pharmacy, and nutrition faculty. Didactics are comprised of morning conferences and Wednesday afternoon resident didactics including simulations.
During the two-week Asheville portion, students will see patients in the MAHEC Family Health Center as part of the residency program practice with mostly faculty and some upper level residents. Students will participate in morning learning conferences that include X-rays, dermatology, procedures and behavioral health. Students are required to attend weekly didactics. One half day is spent in the inpatient setting observing the family practice service.
During the two-week Hendersonville portion, students will see patients at MAHEC's Rural Family Medicine Residency Program in Hendersonville. Students work one-on-one with faculty and residents caring for patients in the multiple residency clinics. Depending on season and interest, other activities include afternoons at the resident-run clinic for many of Hendersonville’s unhoused and opportunities in various specialty clinics, i.e. OB, procedure, colposcopy, or MAT. Students may also participate in visits to migrant farmworker communities. The rotation will include didactics afternoons, participation in case conferences, and a morning in the rounding room with the hospital service team at UNC Health Pardee Hospital.
Students will experience full-spectrum family medicine at the Hendersonville Rural Family Medicine Residency Program where they will see both inpatient and outpatient practice. During the inpatient portion, students will work alongside the residency hospital service team at UNC Health Pardee, our community hospital with 220 beds. Students will round on the inpatient medicine and obstetric units and will also follow patients while working one-on-one with a resident or attending. Daily inpatient activities include rounds, conferences, patient workups, supervised procedures, and other in-patient management. The outpatient portion of the rotation will involve work in Blue Ridge Community Health Services (BRCHS) clinics. Students will work alongside residents and/or attendings but will see patients independently, present the patient plan, and document in the EHR. BRCHS is a Federally Qualified Health Center, with a patient population that includes uninsured patients seen on a sliding scale, unhoused patients, migrant workers, as well as Medicaid, Medicare, and private pay patients. A large portion of the patient population is Spanish-speaking with live interpreters available.
A four-week elective set in the MAHEC Hendersonville Rural Family Medicine Residency Program at Blue Ridge Community Health Services (BRCHS), with inpatient services at UNC Health Pardee Hospital. Students round in the 220-bed hospital each morning, following several patients and working one-on-one with upper-level residents and faculty. Daily activities include rounds, conferences, patient work-ups, supervised procedures, and other in-patient management. As an AI, you will work under the supervision of upper-level family medicine residents under the guidance of faculty attendings. Students will attend resident didactic afternoons weekly and spend one half-day each week in the residency outpatient continuity clinics (BRCHS). The AI rotation is an opportunity for you to get to know our residency, our people, and for us to get to know you.
Students will see patients with family medicine residents and attendings at the outpatient clinics of Blue Ridge Community Health Services (BRCHS). They will have the opportunity to work with several residents and attendings, truly getting a feel for the culture of the program. Students will be expected to see patients independently, present a patient plan, and document in the EHR. BRCHS is a Federally Qualified Health Center, with a patient population that includes uninsured patients seen on a sliding scale, unhoused patients, migrant workers, as well as Medicaid, Medicare, and private pay patients. A large portion of the patient population is Spanish-speaking with live interpreters available. Students will have the opportunity to participate in team-based care with dieticians, behavioral health, and pharmacists on site. Students will also join the residents for didactics on Wednesday afternoons consisting of lectures, simulation, and case conferences.
This is a four-week rotation where students will spend time on our busy family-medicine-run hospital service, round in the newborn nursery, and see patients in the family medicine continuity clinic. Daily activities include rounds, conferences, patient work-ups, supervised procedures and other in-patient management. Students will work under the supervision of faculty attendings. Students will have an opportunity to identify the challenges in providing care in a rural community and with limited regional resources. The rotation is also an opportunity for you to get to know our residency and our people and for us to get to know you.
Rural-urban health disparities continue to worsen, especially in maternity care, behavioral health, and substance use disorder. This rotation immerses you in an innovative, multidisciplinary care team housed in a family medicine clinic located in a rural community, where you will be paired with and learn alongside another health professional student. The rotation includes didactics and experiences focused on rural competencies (scarcity, adaptability, resilience) and utilizes the interprofessional team to address social determinants of health. Rural primary care is a team sport—learn the way that you will eventually practice!
Questions? Please email us at studentservices@mahec.net.
