Jump-start to the wards: A hospitalist model

Background: In recent years, pursuing a second degree during medical school has become an increasingly attractive option. Interested students choose to leave medical school for one or several years, and then return to finish their clinical rotations. However, they often have minimal clinical exposure while completing these degree programmes, and may have difficulty adapting to the clinical environment when returning for their third or fourth year of medical school. Context: Whereas MD and PhD students tend to have clinical re-entry courses at their medical schools, there are no formal reintegration programmes for medical students who choose to pursue 1- or 2-year degrees. Innovation: We designed a 5-day reintegration course based on a hospital service model, with physician assistants or nurse practitioners to aid in student transition to clinical rotations, and describe the experience of a dual-degree medical student participating in this re-entry model. Implications: This model provides the student with both didactic and patient care training, as well as the experience of working with professionals from different backgrounds. As the demand for dual-degree opportunities increases, the implementation of formal re-entry programmes should be considered to ensure students returning to medical school are prepared to begin clinical rotations.