The students also spend considerable time in physician's offices, clinics and ambulatory Care settings. The student makes rounds with the physician on hospitalized patients and also sees patients in the physician's office. The private hospitals in Hot Springs and Deadwood, along with the Sioux San Hospital in Rapid City serve as sites for preceptorships in the sophomore year, as well as senior elective sites. While both of the Veteran's Affairs hospitals provide excellent teaching experiences for the students, the patients are primarily male, therefore the students spend an equal amount of time in a community hospital to provide a variety of patients. Rapid City Regional Hospital and the University of South Dakota School of Medicine have sponsored a Residency Program in Family Practice which started on July 1, 1995.
Medical students work as a team with residents and attending physicians.
Rapid City Regional Hospital Rapid City Regional Hospital is a large private hospital with 417 beds and offers clinical clerkships in Internal Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics, Pediatrics, Neurology, and Family Medicine. There are also a number of electives in General Medicine and General Surgery, along with various sub-specialties offered at this hospital. There are full time faculty in Internal Medicine who work closely with the coordinators at this site and the Department Chairperson. Rapid City Regional Hospital has a certified level II Emergency Room, fully staffed with physicians, most of whom are Board Certified in Emergency Medicine. The senior students are all required to do a month's rotation in Emergency Medicine.