Clinical experience becomes the primary educational curriculum during the third and fourth year. WVSOM’s Statewide Campus (SWC) system allows students to gain specialized training in various disciplines through a regional consortium of clinical sites, predominantly located in West Virginia. The SWC system is designed to immerse students in primary care specialties and help them better understand what it means to care for patients living in rural or underserved areas.
Locations are selected by students who attend one of the seven SWC regions to serve as their home base as they work beside clinical faculty and preceptors. Students are also required to complete eight weeks of family medicine and internal medicine, as well as four weeks of pediatrics, surgery, OB-GYN/women’s health, psychiatry, emergency medicine and four weeks of electives.
Students will also prepare for the COMLEX and the OSCEs. COMLEX is the pathway to licensure for osteopathic physicians in the U.S. and is taken at the completion of second and third year. Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) are designed to test competence in clinical skills performance.
During the third year, students are required to complete 40 weeks of clinical rotations and prepare for the COMLEX and the OSCEs.
In the final year of clinical rotations, students can expand beyond West Virginia to locations across the nation and abroad. Students are required to complete 36 weeks of clinical rotations, including 12 weeks of electives in areas that fulfill their individual interests.
In addition to clinical rotation requirements, students may be involved in clinical case conferences, tumor boards, skill labs and professional development seminars. During this period, students will learn to present clinical cases to a variety of audiences.
Clinical Education Resources