BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – St. Joseph’s Hospital in Buckhannon recently welcomed third-year medical students from the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM). The students will be spending the next year fulfilling their third year of clinical requirements. St. Joseph’s Hospital serves as a statewide campus for the medical school, which is located in Lewisburg, West Virginia.
These clinical rotations are an opportunity for the medical students to gain exposure to rural medicine, as well as encourage them to remain in West Virginia once they become licensed physicians.
In their first two years of medical school, the curriculum stresses both factual knowledge and key skills, such as critical thinking, establishing rapport with patients and colleagues, and conducting medical histories and physical examinations. In the last two years of medical school, preceptors help them apply all they have learned.