There is also a strong community focus and students are encouraged to have clinical encounters around these three areas of the life cycle. Clinical preceptors are assigned to aid in obtaining clinical encounters and also in fulfilling the professional skills objectives. Tutorial evaluation is still the mainstay, however reasoning exercises and a written McCope exercise are also included. Elements of critical appraisal are also objectives. In this component of the programme students participate in the direct care of patients as they learn about the management of health and illness.
All prior objectives apply, but the health-care problems are now real patients or populations.
The Clerkship programme consists of rotations in Medicine, Surgery, Family Medicine, Psychiatry, Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and in elective time of which one-half must be spent in clinical medicine. The compulsory components of the clerkship are carried out in teaching practices and in all the teaching hospitals in the Hamilton region. The elective experience can be spent in various activities utilizing local, regional or distant resources. Electives Elective studies form an integral part of the Curriculum Plan. They may be considered the epitome of self-directed learning, since students must define goals for electives which are appropriate for their own learning objectives.