Clinical Involvement
MedZou Community Health Clinic
MedZou is a student-run, physician-supervised clinic that serves of the needs of those without health insurance. More information is available at https://medicine.missouri.edu/offices-programs/education/medzou-community-health-clinic.
How it works: during the fall of the first year of medical school, M1 students will have the opportunity to apply for various positions and leadership role within MedZou. After a transition period and training, they will then take over those roles from the current M2 leaders.
Roles
- Directors
- 5 student directors will be appointed in October-November. They will each oversee a particular branch of MedZou’s functioning while also sharing some responsibilities such as taking turns managing clinic nights and carrying the MedZou Director phone. Directors generally meet weekly with each other and with the physician advisors, along with meeting with the respective chairs they oversee.
- Categories: Director of Business and Administration, Clinic Services, Patient Advocacy, Speciality Clinic Services, and Volunteer Services
- Chairs
- These are positions often shared between two or more individuals to work with a director to oversee a particular project or team.
- Business and Administration Chairs: Research, EMR/IT, Fundraising, Quality Improvement, Grant Writing, and Inventory
- Clinic Services Chairs: Clinic Managers, Case Management, Patient Liaisons, Food Security
- Patient Advocacy Chairs: Referrals, Pharmacy, Outreach, Disability/Records
- Speciality Clinic Chairs (for each speciality covered)
- Volunteer Services: Student Education, Medical Student Coordinator, Undergraduate Coordinator, Physician Coordinator, Prevention, Intake, and Trauma (PIT)
- Team Members
- Categories: Pharmacy, PIT, Case Management, Fundraising
Preclinical students (M1’s and M2’s) without a specified role may also volunteer on a per-shift basis to work with a clinical volunteer (M3’s and M4’s) to interview and examine a patient and then come up with an assessment and plan under the supervision of a physician.
Ambulatory Clinical Experience (ACE)
The Ambulatory Clinical Experience (ACE) is a school-arranged opportunity to shadow and work with physicians in various specialities. During the M1 year, this a required part of the curriculum; students will complete ACE in two blocks, spending three afternoons per block with an assigned physician. While the assignments in the first year are random and at least one will be with a primary care physician, in the second year of medical school ACE is an optional elective where students may preference specialties they are interested in getting more exposure to. These sessions are also often an opportunity to practice history-taking and physical exam skills depending on the speciality and the physician preferences.
For questions about ACE, contact ACE Coordinator Shawn Owens (owensjul@health.missouri.edu) or ACE Director Dr. Nancy Mabe (maben@health.missouri.edu)
Advanced Physical Diagnosis (APD)
Starting in block 6 of the M2 year, students will be assigned clinical preceptors and begin participating in APD, which is an opportunity to further practice history-taking and physical exam skills in preparation for starting clerkships in the M3 year. Students will meet with their preceptors and other students several times per block to practice these skills on patients, finishing this part of the course by doing several solo histories, physicals, and presentations.
Shadowing and Summer Opportunities
Some students continue to arrange their own shadowing opportunities throughout med school in order to explore specialties they may be interested in or network with physicians in their speciality of interest. The summer between M1 and M2 year is an excellent time for this; there are also several school-arranged summer programs that facilitate specialty exploration, including the Family Medicine Summer Externship, the Medicine Summer Externship, and the Springfield Summer Clinical Externship.