MD’23: It’s an exciting time to be a fourth-year medical student! Many of us are finishing up our sub-internships and away rotations, taking interesting elective rotations, and doing our best to finish residency applications before the end of September. We are anxious but hopeful for the upcoming interview season!

MD’24: Our class is now three blocks into our third year! It has been incredibly exciting to do full-time clinical work, a definite change from the lecture-based style of the first two years of medical school. We are based all over Rhode Island, with some students at Rhode Island, Hasbro Children's, and The Miriam hospitals, some at private practices in Newport, and more. Some students are practicing suturing and learning how the OR works while on their surgery and OB rotations. Others are learning about vast conditions and treatment plans while on their internal medicine, pediatrics, or family medicine rotations! Sometimes we also go to the medical school for events and programs such as the CPR program (Chat, Process, Reflect). CPR occurs every few weeks and allows all third-year students to get together and reflect on the challenges and excitement of third-year experiences; since now we are all at different sites and rotations on a day-to-day basis, programs like these have been a great way to see everyone! 

MD’25: Second-year students are wrapping up their cardiovascular block at the end of the month, having learned about arrhythmias, EKGs, and myocardial infarctions amongst many other topics!  At the same time, we are becoming more skilled with stethoscopes and auscultation of the heart during Doctoring class.  In September, we are looking forward to getting into the community sites for Doctoring and furthering our clinical skills.  Finally, this year, some members of the MD’25 class are taking on additional leadership and mentoring roles, gaining responsibility for coordinating pre-clerkship electives, serving as Doctoring Peer Mentors, and tutoring MD’26 students.

MD’26: First-year students just completed Block 1 of their Integrated Medical Sciences courses. These courses encompass diverse topics ranging from the scientific foundations of medicine, histology, and anatomy to health systems science and more humanities-centered content. During the last few weeks, students participated in a pre-clinical elective fair to join classes that provide hands-on experiences within certain medical specialties or community advocacy ranging from incarceration education to mentoring local high school students and more. Students have also begun Doctoring, a comprehensive course on clinical skills. They experienced taking a patient's history to prepare for working at a clinical site where they are given the opportunity to practice with and learn from more experienced physicians and real patients. The first month has been an exciting whirlwind with getting to know the cohort that will be together for this next chapter of their medical journey, adapting new routines, and preparing to receive their white coats on October 1.