MD Program
The pre-clerkship experience comprises the first two years at Queen’s and is designed to equip students with the skills and knowledge needed for clinical experiences in clerkship and in residency. The curriculum is designed to combine teaching on foundational basic science knowledge and principles of physician roles, along with clinical teaching, both in the classroom and in clinical skills. In addition to attending large-group classroom based sessions, students will work closely with tutors in small groups, and will learn in a variety of settings, including laboratories, clinical skills centers, the simulation laboratory, and in hospital and community settings.
The clerkship experience at Queen’s provides students with a wide breadth of clinical experiences to prepare them for future practice. Encompassing the final two years of medical school training, it is a blend of clinical rotations in core disciplines, classroom based consolidation experiences and elective opportunities. Students can engage in either block based clinical rotations, or integrated clinical experiences, which are anchored in Family Medicine and combine clinical opportunities from a variety of disciplines. Clerkship is delivered in a Regional format, and students are expected to spend anywhere from one third to three quarters of their time outside of Kingston at Regional sites all across Ontario.
MD Family Medicine Program
The pre-clerkship experience comprises the first two years of the Queen’s-Lakeridge MD/FM Program. Students will work closely with family physician tutors in small-group discussion-based sessions and large-group classroom sessions, as well as in various settings such as clinical skills centres, hospital and community settings. Students will have early clinical exposure starting in Year 1, through opportunities such as longitudinal half-day placements with local family physicians, a “Community Week” where they are placed in a smaller community with family physicians, and a 4-week culminating community placement in a smaller community at the end of the academic year. These placements serve to help students consolidate and apply what has been learned in class in clinical settings. Longitudinal and community placements continue in Year 2. Furthermore, in Year 2, students will receive more procedural skills training in the Clinical Skills course, and learn how to design research and create a research proposal through the Critical Enquiry course.
The clerkship experience (Years 3 & 4) in the Queen’s-Lakeridge MD/FM program provides students with a wide breadth of clinical experiences to prepare them for future practice as family physicians. Students will begin with a longitudinal integrated clerkship in a community setting for at least 18 weeks, followed by clinical placements in a block-based model where they are immersed in one discipline for several weeks in a row. By the end of clerkship, students will have completed placements in family medicine, psychiatry, internal medicine (and related specialties), surgery (and related specialties), pediatrics, obstetrics & gynecology, emergency medicine, and anesthesia.
For more information check out the curriculum here.
MD/Master's Program
In the MD/Master's program, students complete their master's in their first two years. Students will be enrolled full-time in the chosen graduate program in which they fulfill course requirements, conduct research and write and defend the thesis. Students are also enrolled full time in the graduate program over the summer months of the first two years. Following completion of the master's degree, students enter the MD program at the Kingston Campus.
MD/PhD Program
In the MD/PhD program, students spend the first two years in the PhD program, in which they complete course requirements (if any), complete the PhD comprehensive exam, and conduct research. Students then enter the first two years of the MD program, continuing their research over the summer months. Following year two of the MD program, students re-enter the PhD program for a final year, in which they complete thesis research, and write and defend the thesis.
Although this is the normal path through the first five years of the program, alternative routes can be considered, subject to approval by the MD/PhD-MD/Master’s Committee, if a strong case can be made by the student and PhD supervisor. Following completion of the PhD degree, students enter years three and four of the MD program. Students are expected to complete the graduate degree within the time frame outlined above. However, it is recognized that some students in the MD/PhD program may require an additional year of graduate studies to complete the PhD portion of the combined degree program.
For more information check out their curriculum page here.