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Medical Student Educational Program

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (more generally known as physiatry) is a diverse medical specialty concerned with the care of virtually all types of illnesses, injuries and/or disabilities experienced by adults and children. While categorized as a medical specialty, physiatry is simultaneously the discipline that provides primary medical care for individuals with disability. Physiatrists are dedicated to improving the function and quality of life of all patient populations served. Physiatrists are certified as general physiatry practitioners, or can be sub- specialized in pain management, spinal cord injury medicine or pediatric rehabilitation.

Goals and Objectives:

Our Department desires to create a greater awareness of physiatry among all students who are training for careers in medicine or related disciplines. For example, all medical schools in North America that are accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) are required to provide their students with clinical instruction in rehabilitative care. Two specific LCME standards read as follows (emphasis added):

• Clinical instruction should cover all organ systems, and must include the important aspects of preventive, chronic, continuing, rehabilitative, and end-of-life care
• Students must have opportunities to gain knowledge in those content areas that incorporate several disciplines in providing medical care, for example, emergency medicine and the care of the elderly and disabled

The close integration of concepts of rehabilitation with the principles and practices of other clinical disciplines is central to the Departments educational philosophy. Our medical student education programs offers rotating students the opportunity to design an experience tailored to individual goals.

The specific objectives of our medical student program are:

1. To provide students with a broad introduction to the discipline of Physical Medicine &Rehabilitation.

2. To expose students to the management of a variety of musculoskeletal and neuromuscular disorders seen by physiatrists in the Departments inpatient units (currently at HUP, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Pennsylvania Hospital and Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia).

3. To expose students to the management of a variety of patient disorders seen in our outpatient clinics, including exposure to interventional spine care, electrodiagnosis and pain management.

4. To give interested students the opportunity to gain knowledge of the Departments residency training program.

5. To increase medical students knowledge of and exposure to the care of disabled patients through faculty participation in other interdisciplinary courses in the medical curriculum.

If you are considering PM&R as your specialty choice, or if you would like more information regarding this field, please consider reading a classic article in this regard: "Common Questions Asked by Medical Students About Physiatry", DeLisa et al, American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, vol. 74 n. 2, March/April 1995, pp. 145-154.

Specific Course Listings for medical students are include:

Rehabilitation Medicine 201 Clinical Clerkship in Neurorehabilitation
Rehabilitation Medicine 300 - Clinical Clerkship in Rehabilitation Medicine
Rehabilitation Medicine 301 - Clinical Clerkship in Pediatric Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation Medicine 302 - Clinical Clerkship in Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation Medicine 800 - Research in Rehabilitation Medicine.

Each of these rotations is four weeks in duration. Priority is given in scheduling to University of Pennsylvania medical students. All students are scheduled on a first come, first served basis.

Contacts:

For more information about the undergraduate medical student curriculum and how to schedule a clinical elective, please contact:

Richard Salcido, M.D.
Chairman and Residency Program Director
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
5 West Gates, 3400 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104

Email: richard.salcido@uphs.upenn.edu

Phone: (215) 349-8736
Fax: (215) 349-8680

Links:

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine: http://www.uphs.upenn.edu

Information on application procedures for visiting medical students: http://www.med.upenn.edu/educate/visiting_students.html

Other interesting sites for information about Physiatry include:

American Academy of PM&R: http://www.aapmr.org/index.html

Association of Academic Physiatry: http://www.physiatry.org/

American Board of PM&R: http://www.abpmr.org/index.html

American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine: http://www.acrm.org/

American Association of Electrodiagnostic Medicine: http://www.aaem.net/

American Spinal Injury Association: http://www.asia-spinalinjury.org/index.html

Association of Rehabilitation Nurses: http://www.rehabnurse.org/

American Physical Therapy Association: http://www.apta.org/