Medical education involves a number of different learning experiences that, in turn, necessitate a variety of teaching environments. While there are a variety of teaching environments used in the MD program, the basic distinction is between didactic (classroom) teaching environments and clinical teaching environments.

Didactic (Classroom) Teaching

Particularly in the first two years of the MD program (Phases 1, 2, 3), a significant amount of teaching is conducted at the St. John’s campus of Memorial University. The majority of labs, lectures, and seminars take place at the Faculty of Medicine located in the Health Sciences Centre. Students in clerkship/Phase 4 participate in didactic teaching sessions as part of individual clerkships. These teaching sessions typically originate from the Faculty of Medicine campus in St. John’s, although web conferencing systems, or other distance technologies, enable participation by students when they are in rural, remote or other locations away from the main campus. 

Clinical Teaching

The MD program utilizes a network of hospitals and other sites in order to provide students with a rich and diverse clinicaltraining experience. Clinical training sites are located throughout the province of Newfoundland & Labrador, and also in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. The Faculty of Medicine has established regional hubs where physician leads and program administrators work closely with the Regional Health Authorities to facilitate accommodation, internet access and wellness supports for students. Each region has secondary sites, rural sites and remote sites. Students have exposure to these sites throughout their training.

Community Engagement 
The Community Engagement course is offered sequentially in each of the Phases. Phase 1 includes the Early Clinical Experience during which students spent several afternoons with a physician and Phase 2 has a two (2) week House Call rotation that serves as an introduction to the relationship between the physician and the community of practice. In Phase 3, a two (2) week Black Bag experience allows for a shadowing experience with a strong clinical bias. During Phase 4, a mandatory eight-week core Rural FamilyPractice rotation allows hands on training. Rural options exist for electives and selectives/advanced practice integration.