4.7: Required Clerkship Curriculum

The following outlines the current clerkship requirements for Stanford medical students. Please refer to Section 4.3 of the MD Program Handbook and Policy Manual for related policy information, including requirements by academic year. For additional resources and information regarding clerkship scheduling, please visit the Clerkship Fishbowl website.

Note: Students must have successfully completed all pre-clerkship courses prior to beginning clerkships. A total of 99 clinical units (66 weeks) are required for graduation.

  • Core Clerkships (Required)
    • These clerkships must be completed within the student’s first 12 periods of clinical rotations:
    • MED 300A: General Medicine Core - 12 units (8 weeks)
    • SURG 300A: General Surgery Core - 12 units (8 weeks)
    • Two of the clerkships below (assigned by draw process) must also be completed within the student’s first 12 periods of clinical rotations:
    • ANES 306A or 306P: Critical Care Core - 6 units (4 weeks)
    • EMED 301A: Emergency Medicine Core - 6 units (4 weeks)
    • FAMMED 301A: Family Medicine Core - 6 units (4 weeks)
    • MED 313A:  Ambulatory Medicine Core - 6 units (4 weeks)
    • NENS 301A: Neurology Core - 6 units (4 weeks)
    • OBGYN 300A: Obstetrics & Gynecology Core - 9 units (6 weeks)
    • PEDS 300A: Pediatrics Core - 12 units (8 weeks)
    • PSYC 300A: Psychiatry Core - 6 units (4 weeks)
    • Students must begin the following clerkships no later than Period 7 of the final clerkship year:
    • OBGYN 300A: Obstetrics & Gynecology Core
    • PEDS 300A: Pediatrics Core
    • Students must begin the following clerkships no later than Period 10 of the final clerkship year:
    • ANES 306A or 306P: Critical Care Core
    • EMED 301A: Emergency Medicine Core
    • FAMMED 301A: Family Medicine Core
    • MED 313A:  Ambulatory Medicine Core
    • NENS 301A: Neurology Core
    • PSYC 300A: Psychiatry Core
  • Selective/Elective Clerkships
  • Note:
    • Graduation requirements for clinical training are subject to change.
    • The total number of units required to graduate is subject to change dependent upon individual clerkship length.
    • Periods 5 & 6 of the final clerkship year are blocked for interviews.
    • Periods 11 & 12 of the final clerkship year are not available for Core Clerkship scheduling.
    • For details on clerkship scheduling processes and procedures, see the Clerkship Fishbowl website.  

 

Transportation to Required Clerkship Sites

To provide medical students with the opportunity to learn medicine in a variety of settings, required core clerkships are completed at Stanford University Hospital, Stanford Ambulatory Community Clinics, Stanford Children’s Hospital, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, Palo Alto VA, and Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara. Students are responsible for their own transportation to and from Stanford and its affiliated sites and are expected to arrive on time, which may require advance planning. For the ten required core clerkships, site placements are made by each clerkship, and no site assignments will be made due to transportation-related concerns.

Students are responsible for making appropriate travel arrangements and all costs associated with travel to their required core clerkship site unless they exceed the 50-mile one-way local area as defined by Stanford policy. Housing and transportation costs are covered by the required core clerkship should you be assigned a location beyond these limits.

Transportation is included in your cost of attendance budget set by the Office of Financial Aid (OFA) to cover the cost of travel to and from clinical sites, students should contact the OFA should they have any questions or concerns related to financial hardships due to travel.

Should students require accommodations related to travel, please contact the Stanford Medicine Office of Disability Resources.

 

updated March 2025