Global Health

Global Health Medicine provides opportunities for medical students to better understand the depth, breadth, and interdisciplinary nature of global health challenges. 

Internationally-focused emergency medicine clerkship focusing on the care of undifferentiated, unscheduled patients with illnesses or injuries requiring immediate medical attention.

International clerkship focused on providing healthcare to vulnerable populations worldwide. Careful attention may be given to the use of resources, knowledge, and experience of diverse societies to address health challenges as well as combining population-based health promotion and disease prevention with individual-led care.

Students can supplement their domestic clerkship experiences by traveling abroad. Opportunities to strengthen diagnostic skills, shift dependency on diagnostic tests, build a further sense of global health needs, provide a service to a community in need, and address the challenges of healthcare within an ethnically and culturally diverse area may occur when focusing on global health. 

Global Health OBGYN clerkship will focus on engaging healthcare providers interested in the care of women in under-served communities internationally. 

International clerkship focused on healthcare for children from birth through adolescence. Students may experience how diverse socio-cultural determinants affect healthcare and diseases in children that are uncommon in resource-rich areas.

Surgery has not always been considered a global health priority, but the global health community has recently recognized that surgical conditions form a significant burden of disease and have cost-effective interventions. Students may experience/discuss first-hand the global burden of surgical disease, surgery in resource-poor settings, surgical workforce and task shifting, as well as the ethics of surgical care in resource-poor settings. 

Internationally-focused clerkship involving the using of hands to diagnose, treat, and prevent illness or injury.

The main focus of this track is for our students to develop the skills necessary to be successful physicians and to be able to better serve their patients both internationally and here in the US.   The population here is the US continues to increase in cultural and socioeconomic diversity with a responding need for appropriate provision of healthcare services.  Regardless of the student’s chosen specialty in medicine, whether students work here or overseas, they must have a better understanding of how their patient’s health is affected by not only where they live, but also factors such as socioeconomic status, type of government and healthcare system available to them, and culture.  This track consisting of 3 semesters will culminate in over 75+ hours of classroom experiences and a required international clinical experience(s) over a span of 3.5 years.  

Specifically, this course is the first of 3 courses which will introduce the students to the many facets and current events associated with Global Medicine from a Public Health perspective.  The semester will consist of 30 plus hours of coursework, graded Honors/Pass/Fail for a total of 2 credits. Students are also expected to work collaboratively and actively participate as both learners and educators through class discussions and semester projects.

The main focus of this track is for our students to develop the skills necessary to be successful physicians and to be able to better serve their patients both internationally and here in the US.   The population here is the US continues to increase in cultural and socioeconomic diversity with a responding need for appropriate provision of healthcare services.  Regardless of the student’s chosen specialty in medicine, whether students work here or overseas, they must have a better understanding of how their patient’s health is affected by not only where they live, but also factors such as socioeconomic status, type of government and healthcare system available to them, and culture.  This track consisting of 3 semesters will culminate in over 75+ hours of classroom experiences and a required international clinical experience(s) over a span of 3.5 years.  

Specifically, this course is the second in a series of 3 courses where students will synthesize and develop what they learned in the first course while focusing on addressing neglected diseases and other more specific global health issues. This semester will consist of 30 plus hours of coursework, graded Honors/Pass/Fail for a total of 2 credits. Time will also be given to hone specific clinical skills needed to work with patients. Students are also expected to work collaboratively and actively participate as both learners and educators through class discussions and semester projects.

The main focus of this track is for our students to develop the skills necessary to be successful physicians and to be able to better serve their patients both internationally and here in the US.   The population here is the US continues to increase in cultural and socioeconomic diversity with a responding need for appropriate provision of healthcare services.  Regardless of the student’s chosen specialty in medicine, whether students work domestically or overseas, they must have a better understanding of how their patient’s health is affected by not only where they live, but also factors such as socioeconomic status, type of government and healthcare system available to them, and culture.  This track consisting of 3 semesters will culminate in over 75+ hours of classroom experiences and a required international clinical experience(s) over a span of 3.5 years. 

Specifically, in this course, the third and final of three courses in the Global Medicine Track, students will reinforce and apply what they have learned during the first 2 semesters.  Additional skills and topics related to caring for marginalized populations and practicing in low resource areas will be addressed.  Students will be prepared for the clinical year requirements to pass the track and also review the requirements for applying to the Global Health Certificate program in the fall of their final year of matriculation.  This semester will consist of a minimum of 16 hours, graded Honors/Pass/Fail for a total of 1 credit.   Students are also expected to work collaboratively and actively participate as both learners and educators through class discussions and semester projects.

This is the final remaining credited course for receiving an additional Certificate of Study upon graduation from RVU.   The focus of this capstone course is to allow students the time necessary to synthesize and demonstrate competency in their understanding and ability to specifically discuss topics they have learned about during their time in one of the newly developed RVU Certificate Programs. This will occur in their final year of matriculation and is a Pass/Fail rubric-graded one credit course.  

The expected time for completion of this course is 20-25 hours.  See below for specific assignments for this course.