Maine Medical Center
Tufts students holding up letters

Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC)

The Tufts University School of Medicine - Maine Medical Center Program (TUSM-MMC) third year Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC) began placing Maine Track students at urban and rural hospital sites within Maine in May of 2011. LIC students participate in the comprehensive care of patients over time, thus developing continuing learning relationships with these patients' clinicians, and meeting the year's core clinical competencies across multiple disciplines simultaneously. This program is open to third year undergraduate medical students who are enrolled in the TUSM-MMC program.

Core Concepts

  • Students live in a Maine community for nine months, are assigned to core discipline preceptors at their hospital, and develop their own panel of patients throughout the clerkship.
  • Patient contact occurs at multiple junctures of patient care including routine office visits, home visits, subspecialty evaluations, office or hospital-based procedures, hospital care, emergency care, and other professional staff evaluations.
  • Contact with core discipline preceptors, sub-specialists, and teams of care is creatively woven throughout the student’s weekly schedule.
  • The typical learning mode is longitudinal, individualized (student one-on-one with attending), and patient-centered.
  • The students follow their patients to appointments, participate in their procedures, and play a part in relevant case conferences.
  • Students have the opportunity to participate in committees, medical staff meetings, and quality improvement programs at the site hospitals.

This model embodies the concept of educational continuity in terms of continuity of care, continuity of education, and continuity of supervision. The students benefit from a view of each patient as a “whole person” while participating in the comprehensive care of their patients over time (continuity of care). In addition, each student has a core group of faculty that is dedicated to the student’s professional development over an extended period of time (continuity of education and supervision). It is a learning experience that is reflective of what they are likely to experience as a physician, includes authentic feedback and evaluation processes, and allows the opportunity to develop strong professional mentoring relationships.

LIC Sites

Contact Us

Department of Medical Education
Maine Medical Center Brighton Campus
335 Brighton Avenue
Portland, ME  04102

Phone: 207-662-7060