WARM curriculum
Wisconsin Academy for Rural Medicine (WARM) students participate in an integrated rural core curriculum during all four years.
During Phase 1, in the summer before second year, students participate in WARM Welcome, a one-week enrichment experience that focuses on the cultural and historical context of rural Wisconsin, rural community resources, and team-building skills.
WARM students relocate to an assigned site for Phases 2 and 3 of the curriculum. Advocate Aurora BayCare Medical Center (part of the Eastern Academic Campus) in Green Bay, Gundersen Health System (Western Academic Campus) in La Crosse and Marshfield Clinic Health System (Northern Academic Campus) in Marshfield, and their respective network of rural clinics host WARM students. A lottery is used to assign students to the sites.
During Phases 2 and 3, WARM students complete a community health project and participate in rural WARM core days, providing additional skill training in medical procedures such as suturing, laceration repair, casting and bracing orthopedic injuries, cardiac stress testing and other skills needed in rural settings. Students in the rural medicine program benefit from hands-on learning in small group and gain a variety of clinical skills relevant to rural practice. WARM students complete the majority of their clinical rotations within the WARM network of sites, including the required Inpatient Acting Internship and Ambulatory Acting Internship experiences.