Electives

Real World Exposure .

Electives also provide medical students with an opportunity to gain insight into potential career paths. Explore our current elective offerings for medical students.

Available Medical Electives .

Ultrasound

Course Name: Clinical Bedside Ultrasound
Course Number: EMED-511
Course Director: Cory Wittrock, MD
Email: cory.a.wittrock@medstar.net
Prerequisites: Open to fourth year Georgetown medical students
Offered: September-April every academic year.
Location: Georgetown University Hospital and Washington Hospital Center, Washington, DC
Duration: 4 weeks / 1 student per block

The fourth year medical student will be introduced to beside ultrasound in the emergency department to answer specific medical questions based on patient history and clinical presentation. Ultrasound allows for the integration of clinical physical exam skills with the basic science of anatomy taught in the first year of medical school. Emergency Ultrasound allows specifically for the integration of three specific skill sets, the first of which is obtaining quality images using the ultrasound machine. The second skill is the interpretation of the findings of the scan. The third component is the integration of the ultrasound images into the clinical picture of the patient. Students will perform emergency ultrasounds within the department and will then have the opportunity to have their scans reviewed and receive feedback to improve this bedside clinical skill.

Sports Medicine

Course Name: Primary Care Sports Medicine
Contact: Kori Hudson, MD or B. Elizabeth Delasobera, MD
Email: korin.b.hudson@medstar.net or bronson.e.delasobera@medstar.net
Prerequisites: Open to all fourth year medical students, also open to all EM residents
Offered: September-May every academic year
Location: Throughout DC, VA, and MD (mostly within the Medstar system)
Duration: 2 weeks / 1 student per block

The fourth year medical student or EM resident will be introduced to sports medicine in the clinical/office based setting, as well as in the training room/team setting. Students will learn about the management of both traumatic and overuse sports injuries (including sports concussions, fractures, dislocations, and other soft tissue injuries), as well as the management of medical issues in the athlete (both treatment and return to play issues). In addition, students will learn what it means to be a sports medicine physician, what the primary care sports medicine fellowship entails, and what life after fellowship is like for an EM/sports medicine physician. Clinical duties will be a combination of primary care sports medicine clinic, orthopedic clinic, and MSK radiology reading room time. In addition, the student will join some of the other Medstar sports medicine physician(s) for their training room and on-field duties.

WILDERNESS MEDICINE ELECTIVE

Course Name: Wilderness Medicine Elective – EMED-507
Contact: Matthew Wilson, MD and Erika Page, MD
Location: Georgetown Hospital, SiTEL simulation center
Duration: 2 weeks / 10 students per block

The Georgetown EM Wilderness Medicine course will provide an intensive combination of lecture based learning as well as multiple hands on learning opportunities in conjunction with local professionals to introduce medical students to the concept of practicing medicine in a resource limited environment (a.k.a austere medicine). This is applicable to the wilderness but also towards disaster relief, terrorist events, or international medical missions. The curriculum consists of daily lectures coupled with complementary outdoor recreational activities in the region run by local professionals. For example, the altitude/climbing emergency lectures will be coupled with an optional trip to the climbing gym where students can participate in supervised climbing with exposure to mountain rescue techniques. The marine/whitewater lectures will be coupled with a trip to the whitewater rescue station in Cabin John, MD and an optional kayaking excursion with a local boat outfitter. Nightly readings will be provided for all participants from Auerbach’s Wilderness Medicine textbook.