Central Washington Family Medicine is pleased to be an active partner with the University of Washington School of Medicine in providing nationally recognized excellence in family medicine training. U.S. News & World Report has ranked the University as having the number one Family Medicine Department in the nation several years running. As part of our mission to train excellent physicians, Central Washington Family Medicine (CWFM) offers several rotations for medical students working toward their MD or DO degrees.

For third year medical students at the University of Washington, we offer a six-week rotation as part of the core third year requirements. For a full description of the UW clerkship program, visit the UW clerkship site.

For fourth year students from LCME or Osteopathic accredited medical schools we offer a sub-internship, also known as the Advanced Fourth Year Elective in Family Medicine. This rotation, which provides students with an opportunity to work intensively with our inpatient service of four residents and two faculty, is described further, below.

We offer other student opportunities at our clinic. First year medical students spend a month observing what a ‘real’ doctor does. College students with an interest in medicine spend a day observing one of our providers. Fundamental to training excellent physicians is providing students an opportunity to learn. We are thankful that our patients recognize this important role and so graciously participate by allowing students to work with providers in delivering care.

The Sub-Internship (or Advanced Fourth Year Elective) in Family Medicine is available for a four-week block in the fourth year of medical school, July-May. (It is not designed to meet the medical schools’ family medicine requirement.) The goal of the sub-internship is to provide exposure to the clinic, the hospitals, and the community. At the same time, we emphasize continuity of care and exposure to the common problems which are present in family medicine. The busy inpatient experience serves a typical family medicine population — including neonates, ante-partum and post-partum patients, toddlers, children, adolescents, adults, and geriatric patients.

The typical day starts out with hospital rounds followed by morning report. A mini-teaching conference is often included. Students are given primary responsibility for one to three patients depending on service volume and the nature of patient illnesses. Two to three afternoons a week, students attend didactics or work in CWFM’s family medicine clinic with faculty and residents.

Call is done with the a senior resident and averages every fourth night. Weekend call is approximately two of the four weekends, and students are matched with a resident and faculty member. Call is from home. Students may choose to do call more frequently to increase involvement with ER patients and admissions. This involves evaluating and admitting any patients seen in the emergency department.

Didactics are the residency's weekly lecture series, comprising a core set of lectures that relate to family medicine. Students attend the majority of these unless both the student and the senior resident are required to evaluate or care for patients in the hospital.

To begin the process, please fill out our Sub-internship Application. Once approved, you will need to formally register through the University of Washington. (Although CWFM selects the medical students for this rotation, the University has certain requirements that must be met.) For additional information, including requirements and a University of Washington School of Medicine application for visiting student rotations, visit the UW site. The site also describes the criteria for accepting Visiting Students to the University of Washington from other U.S. medical schools.