Experiential Learning Electives Catalog

Experiential Learning Catalog

Welcome to the M4 Experiential Learning Electives Catalog

Our mission is to achieve “excellence in medical and health professions education, research and patient care. We value creating and fostering a diverse and cohesive faculty, professional staff and student body as the surest way to achieve our mission. Adhering to the highest ethical standards, we will strive to improve the health of our community and to be recognized as a national center of intellectual and clinical strength in medicine.” Medical Education oversees the undergraduate medical school curriculum, ensures regular assessment and evaluation of student progress and monitors curriculum compliance with the nationally recognized accrediting authority for medical education programs, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education.

We are committed to providing you with the best educational opportunities to become the skilled healthcare providers of tomorrow.

In contrast to the first three years of the medical school curriculum, during which students follow an assigned schedule, the M4 year provides considerable flexibility. Although the M4 curriculum contains some required elements, students have considerable latitude to design their educational programs to fit their individual needs and interests. The M4 year is intended to provide each student with a well-rounded educational experience, building on the knowledge and experiences of the first three years and preparing the student for postgraduate training.

The purpose of the Electives Catalog is to serve as a resource to assist students in scheduling and understanding the administrative aspects of the M4 year. Descriptions of electives appearing in this catalog were prepared by the faculty of the department offering the elective and by Medical Education.

At present, all the information is accurate to the best of our knowledge. However, policies, procedures, and faculty listings may change from time to time. Any questions regarding descriptive material of a particular elective should be directed to the appropriate departmental elective course director.

Please contact M4@odu.edu with any questions or scheduling concerns. 

Class of 2026 Catalog Administration Quick Links

• Unified Competency Objectives of the MD Program 
• Student Promotion
• Required Rotations
• Away Electives 
• Creating You Own Rotation or Away Elective
• Elective Periods and Deadlines
• Schedules
• Clinical Education Site Compliance
• Grading
• Visiting Students 
• M4 Administration Contacts  

Unified Competency Objectives of the MD Program

The civic and medical leaders who founded Eastern Virginia Medical School envisioned an institution that would champion improving the health of the region. Decades later the school celebrates its record of training physicians who are committed to knowledge and skill and doubly committed to the service of others.

Distinctive characteristics of the institution have evolved over its lifetime:

• Education is central to its mission, not peripheral to the research and clinical enterprises.
• Principles of humanism in medicine and the biopsychosocial model of disease and health are emphasized, promoting the values of altruism and duty.
• An ethic of community service moves students beyond formalized educational settings.
• The learning atmosphere emphasizes cooperation among students, faculty, other health care professionals, local and international care providers and policy makers.
• Lifelong learning and the practice of evidence based medicine are accepted as professional responsibilities.
• The environment promotes collaboration, creativity, leadership and service.

Student Promotion

In order to graduate from Eastern Virginia Medical School with a MD degree, students must satisfactorily complete all elements of the prescribed four-year curriculum.

Requirements for Promotion to M4: Please refer to the Standards for Advancement and Graduation Policy in the MD Student Handbook.

The M4 Year

The M4 year is designed to promote a well-rounded educational experience (NOT a preliminary internship). A students M4 schedule is comprised of the following:

36 weeks of full-time, scheduled, supervised, and evaluated educational experiences are required for graduation. These 36 weeks consist of:

32 weeks of electives (Minimum of 16 weeks MUST be clinical rotations):

• Acting Internship (4 weeks)
• Ambulatory Care (4 weeks)
• Critical Care (4 weeks)
• The above requirements can overlap to meet graduation requirement
  • Example: ERM400 meets the requirements of AI, AMB and CC. By taking that one 4-week course, all three requirements are met. The remaining weeks of electives would not need to meet specific category requirements.
• Maximum of 8 weeks of longitudinal electives
• Minimum of 4 weeks in clinical or non-clinical elective outside of specialty
• Minimum of 4 weeks in a live patient-care clinical elective in-spring (Sessions 8-13) semester

4 weeks of required courses:

• Transition in Practice Series (TIPS): Residency (2 weeks; 1 week is in-person). Students can only enroll in this course if matched to a PGY-1 residency program.
  • Students will attend one week of in-person activities (weeks are assigned by specialty) and one week of virtual/asynchronous activities. 
  • Unmatched students are not required to participate in TIPs Residency and can meet the requirement by successful completion of an additional Acting Internship elective.
• Clinical Skills/Ultrasound Capstone (2 weeks)

14 weeks of unscheduled time for professional development and personal use is built into the M4 year to be used for:

• Residency Preparation
• Interviews
• Vacations/Travel/Personal Time

Students are allowed to work with faculty to design clinical experiences other than those in this catalog. The process for creating an individualized experience or away rotation is described in detail below in the non-catalog course process. Please plan ahead as there are multiple onboarding requirements and deadlines that must be met.

Required Rotations

Many of the electives in the catalog meet the requirements of multiple categories. For example, SUR404 (Shock/ Trauma) meets the requirements of the Acting Internship (AI) requirement, the Critical Care requirement, and an elective rotation. One course can meet several graduation requirements on your schedule.

• An M4 rotation MAY NOT be used to remediate a failed M3 clerkship.
• Students may not schedule electives in which they will be directly supervised or graded by preceptors with whom they have any clinical, personal, or familial relationship, including providing health services. See the Non-Involvement of Student Healthcare Providers in Education Policy in the MD Student Handbook.
• Students should plan “full-time” electives based on four-week sessions whenever possible. Some electives have two-week options which can be scheduled anytime during a four-week session in coordination with the course coordinator. Electives may not be planned for less than two weeks in duration. (NOTE: Two-week rotations must include AT LEAST 10 scheduled work days.)
• Other electives that meet the definition of the listed course categories may be submitted for approval to fulfill a requirement using the M4 Non-Catalog Course Request Form.

ACTING INTERNSHIP (AI)

Must be completed at EVMS or an affiliated site.

Affiliated sites include:

• Bon Secours, Hampton Roads
• Chesapeake Regional Medical Center
• Children’s Hospital of The Kings Daughters
• Naval Medical Center Portsmouth
• Riverside Regional Medical Center, Newport News
• Sentara, Hampton Roads
• Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center, Hampton

The Acting Internship (AI) elective is designed to encourage senior medical students, regardless of desired future specialty, to assume patient care responsibilities similar to those of an intern (PGY-1 resident), including following the call schedule of an intern in that specialty. Acting interns should carry patients independently of interns and have similar duties, schedules, and didactic sessions as interns. They should take ownership of their patients and be the primary point person regarding their care. They should be increasingly (but safely) independent in their clinical practice but able to recognize when help is needed.

By the end of the acting internship, students should be proficient and efficient in handling the daily tasks of an intern, demonstrating expected behaviors for an entrustable learner including:

• Performing complete and accurate history and physical exams in an organized fashion (UCO 1.1)
• Prioritizing a differential diagnosis following a clinical encounter (UCO 1.2)
• Recommending and interpreting common diagnostic and screening tests (UCO 1.2)
• Entering and discussing orders and prescriptions (UCO 1.2)
• Documenting a clinical encounter accurately in the patient record (UCO 4.2)
• Presenting an oral presentation of a clinical encounter (UCO 4.2)
• Forming clinical questions and retrieving evidence to advance patient care (UCO 3.2)
• Giving or receiving a patient handover to transition care responsibly (UCO 4.2)
• Collaborating as a member of an interprofessional team (UCO 5.2)

AMBULATORY MEDICINE (AMB)

May be completed at any LCME-accredited school or under the supervision of a physician with an active faculty appointment at an LCME-accredited school.

The Ambulatory Medicine (AMB) elective is intended to allow senior medical students to participate in the evaluation and management of patients who present with a wide variety of disorders in an outpatient setting. A minimum of 5 half days per week (or 50% of the rotation averaged over the course of the elective) must be in an Ambulatory setting providing direct patient care (not in a shadowing role).

By the end of the ambulatory medicine elective, students should be proficient and efficient in the management of an outpatient in a clinic setting, demonstrating expected behaviors for an entrustable learner including:

• Performing complete and accurate history and physical exams in an organized fashion (UCO 1.1)
• Prioritizing a differential diagnosis following a clinical encounter (UCO 1.2)
• Recommending and interpreting common diagnostic and screening tests (UCO 1.2)
• Entering and discussing orders and prescriptions (UCO 1.2)
• Documenting a clinical encounter accurately in the patient record (UCO 4.2)
• Presenting an oral presentation of a clinical encounter (UCO 4.2)
• Forming clinical questions and retrieving evidence to advance patient care (UCO 3.2)
• Collaborating as a member of an interprofessional team (UCO 5.2)

CRITICAL CARE (CC)

May be completed at any LCME-accredited school or under the supervision of a physician with an active faculty appointment at an LCME-accredited school.

The Critical Care (CC) elective is intended to expose senior medical students to the evaluation and management of seriously ill patients, often in intensive-care settings, with the goal of learning how to appropriately evaluate the emergent patient. Students should be increasingly (but safely) independent in their clinical practice and able to recognize when help is needed. Students should work all shifts with their teams, including call. Students may complete virtual critical care modules to meet the objectives of this requirement.

By the end of the critical care elective, students should be able to develop a thorough, systematic approach to the rapid recognition, evaluation, treatment, and disposition of the critically ill or injured patient, demonstrating expected behaviors for an entrustable learner including:

• Recognizing a patient requiring urgent or emergent management (UCO 1.2)
• Prioritizing a differential diagnosis for a critically ill or injured patient (UCO 1.2)
• Recommending and interpreting common diagnostic and screening tests (UCO 1.2)
• Entering and discussing orders and prescriptions (UCO 1.2)
• Presenting an oral presentation of a clinical encounter (UCO 4.2)
• Forming clinical questions and retrieving evidence to advance patient care (UCO 3.2)
• Collaborating as a member of an interprofessional team (UCO 5.2)
• Obtaining informed consent for a test or a procedure (UCO 1.3)
• Performing general procedures of a physician (UCO 1.3)

Away Electives

Your critical care, ambulatory and elective courses may be completed at sites other than EVMS-affiliated institutions; however, your Acting Internship must be completed at an EVMS-affiliated institution listed previously.

In planning for away rotations, you should be aware of the following rules:

• Students may do a maximum of 16 weeks of away electives (xxx989 courses)
• Away rotations must be done at an LCME-accredited U.S. Medical School or under the supervision of a physician holding a faculty appointment at an LCME-accredited U.S. Medical School.
• If your desired rotation is described in the host school catalog, that description can be used to complete the Non-Catalog Course Request form (see the electives catalog for more information). If the elective is not described in the host school’s catalog, students should follow the instructions for developing elective rotations below.
• The majority of U.S. medical schools now require that applications from visiting students be submitted through the Visiting Student Learning Opportunities service (VSLO) managed by the Associate of American Medical Schools (AAMC). Information is available from the Clinical Student Scheduling Manager (Jill Haught) or directly from the AAMC. Some Clinical Student Scheduling Manager medical schools use their applications. Information for each school can be obtained from the school’s website.
• Most schools accept applications from visiting students in early spring, but may not confirm your acceptance until late spring or early summer. Most schools, including EVMS, make every effort to accommodate their own students before accepting visiting students. Once you accept an away elective, please submit the Non Catalog Course Request for review and approval.

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Creating Your Own Rotation or Away Elective

*Non-Catalog Course Requests should be submitted through the M4 Elective Catalog by selecting a 988/989 course for the relevant department**

1. Identify the site. All non-VSLO away electives require an affiliation agreement between EVMS and the site. Obtaining agreements can be a lengthy process spanning several months. Please plan accordingly and have a back-up plan should the legal teams of EVMS and the proposed site not be able to agree on the terms of the agreement. VSLO electives do not require an affiliation agreement unless the school you are applying to requests one be executed.
2. Consult with your advisor, the appropriate Department Chairman, Assistant Vice Dean for Clinical Education, or the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs regarding your goals and objectives.
3. Complete a Non-Catalog Course Request by selecting a 988/989 course code in the M4 catalog.
   1. For VSLO rotations, you will need to upload a document describing the skills, knowledge , or values/attitudes the student wishes to achieve, along with documentation of your acceptance. If your desired rotation is described in the host school catalog, that description can be used to complete the Course Request documentation. If the elective is not described in the host school's catalog, students should follow the instructions for developing elective rotations below.
   2. For all Create Your Own (988) or non-VSLO (989) away rotations you must complete the Non-Catalog (non-VSLO) Experiential Learning Rotation Agreement. A copy of the completed agreement should be uploaded to your course request. 
4. Documents to help you write objectives:
   1. New Blooms Taxonomy
   2. Learning Objective Maker
5. Review the objectives with the proposed course director, who must be a board-certified physician or other comparably credentialed individual and hold a faculty appointment with EVMS or another LCME-accredited institution.
6. Once submitted, the proposed elective will be routed for review. During the review process, the affiliation agreement and faculty status will be verified.
7. This process should be completed more than 30 days prior to the start of the elective when possible.
8. An email notification of final approval must be received prior to participating in any non-catalog elective at EVMS or any other LCME-accredited school. If you do not receive approval for your elective, you may not receive credit for the experience, and your graduation date could be affected.

The Non-Catalog Course Request is reviewed for the:

1. faculty status of the preceptor
2. status of the affiliation agreement with the site
3. appropriateness of the course category to the course request (confirmation from the Course Director that the course meets the requirements of the selected course category may be required)
4. scheduling approval from the course coordinator/course director
5. course objectives/goals/description
6. dates compared to the student’s personal schedule and the EVMS session schedule

Please note that submitting the non-catalog course request form does not automatically approve you for credit for the experience. It is one step in a multi-step review and approval process.

International Electives

Currently, EVMS is not offering International elective experiences. Students interested in an international elective experience must schedule it through another LCME-accredited medical school hosting a global health trip/experience.

Schedules

Submission and Approval

In reviewing a student’s proposed program, the Assistant Vice Dean of Clinical Education, Vice Dean for Academic Affairs, and the Medical Education Committee will use the following guidelines: 

• The program shall be well conceived and consistent with respect to fulfillment of the educational needs of the student.
• The program shall be commensurate with the capabilities of the student.
• The educational opportunities selected shall be of a quality sufficient to justify the expenditure of time requested.
• The required rotations listed must be included in each student’s planned program.

Schedule Changes

• Drop requests must be submitted no less than 45 days in advance of the scheduled rotation start date unless there are extenuating circumstances approved by the Assistant Vice Dean for Clinical Education. Last-minute drops are unprofessional as the preceptors may have made adjustments to their schedule to have you rotate with them. Last-minute drops have also prevented another student from completing that elective.
• Courses dropped after the course has begun will receive an “I” for incomplete. The course will either need to be completed at a later date or the student will receive a “W” for withdrawn.
• Add requests (other than Sentara, which can accommodate a faster turnaround time) must be submitted at least 45 days before the course start date. This allows time for the multi-step review and approval process and the student onboarding processes at our affiliated sites (which require their process to be COMPLETED 30 days before your placement). Exceptions are made for short-notice VSLO acceptances with minimal compliance requirements.
• Do not begin an elective that has not been added to your official schedule. Credit for rotations will not be given to students who fail to follow the proper procedures for changing an elective.
• Requested changes are reviewed and approved or disapproved based on the:
  • balance of the student’s schedule and requirements
  • faculty status of the preceptor
  • status of the affiliation agreement with the site
  • appropriateness of the course category to the course request
  • approval from the course coordinator/course director

If the request is approved, the student may then proceed to change the rotation. The student must forward confirmation that the elective supervisors for both the elective being dropped and the rotation being added have been notified. No changes to schedules will be allowed after November 1, 2025.

Grading

Please refer to the M4 Elective Phase Assessment and Grading Policy in the MD Student Handbook.

Clinical Education Site Compliance

All fourth-year EVMS students will be required to complete pre-rotation compliance requirements for EVMS, Sentara and CHKD facilities before February 15, 2025. Students will be communicated via the VHS Student Onboarding team to facilitate completion. For electives taking place at facilities other than Sentara, students are required to complete all site-specific requirements a minimum of 45 days before the start of the elective. An email announcement will be sent from Student Onboarding when the compliance requirements are available for completion.

Any student who has not completed the required compliance activities will be prohibited from starting their elective year and will be required to formally address the dereliction. This delay may impact your ability to complete the scheduled electives and may impact your ability to graduate on time.

 Elective Periods, Deadlines and Dates of Importance

*Session 78 is five weeks to provide one week off (11/25/24-11/30/2411/24/2025-11/28/2025) for Fall Break.
**Session 9 is five weeks to provide one week off (12/22/2025-12/28/2025) for Winter Break
**TIPS:  Students will attend one week of in-person activities (weeks are assigned by speciality) and one week of virtual/asynchronous activities. 

DATES OF IMPORTANCE

SCHEDULES: No schedule changes are allowed after November 1, 2025 with the exception of extenuating circumstances approved in writing by the Assistant Vice Dean.

SCHEDULED TIME OFF:

• Thanksgiving Break: November 24-28, 2025
• Winter Break: December 22-28, 2025

Please consult the leave policy in the MD Student Handbook when scheduling personal time off, interviews, and courses that overlap (example: a clinical course and a longitudinal course).

GRADUATION: May 18, 2026

Visiting Students

Fourth year visiting students are to apply for electives through VSLO. EVMS students hold first priority for all electives. Learn more about visiting student opportunities at EVMS.

M4 Administration Contacts

We look forward to working with each of you over the next year! Please don't ever hesitate to reach out if you have questions. The below directory is designed to assist you with whom to contact regarding your questions. You can also email m4@evms.edu with any inquiry.