Medical students Emma Groblewski, left, and Benjamin Bush practice taping a sprain during the annual Family Medicine Interest Group Procedures Fair on October 27.
It’s not every evening that medical students have the chance to suture a wound, tape a sprain or place an IV, but they were doing all that and more as part of the annual Family Medicine Procedures Fair in the Health Sciences Learning Center.
Coached by faculty physicians and residents, more than 55 medical students in the School of Medicine and Public Health practiced techniques and procedures using models — for example, an injection went into a rubbery, life-size arm — while honing skills that any future family medicine physician needs in their toolbox.
“This is an incredibly popular event,” said Maggie Reisner, a second-year medical student and a leader of the Family Medicine Interest Group, which sponsors the event to encourage interest in the specialty. “We feature around a dozen stations — including IUD placements, joint injections and intubation. Students rank their top three choices. We typically have more people signing up than we can accommodate.”
That’s good news for the interest group, and potentially for the specialty. A growing nationwide shortage of family medicine physicians — a type of primary care provider who sees patients of all ages and treats a wide range of issues — is especially acute in Wisconsin’s rural areas, like Chetek, where Reisner grew up.
“My dad is a family medicine physician and seeing the impact that one person can have in a community like Chetek — you can’t really compare it to anything,” said Reisner, who is enrolled in the Wisconsin Academy of Rural Medicine and intends to return to Wisconsin’s north woods to practice. “I want more people to understand what is special about family medicine.”
In August, the student-led Family Medicine Interest Group was named a 2025 Program of Excellence by the American Academy of Family Physicians, recognized for its programming that promotes professional development and offers exposure to the specialty. Through annual events like the Procedures Fair and the Basic Life Support in Obstetrics course, as well as novel events such as a gun safety workshop, the Family Medicine Interest Group aims to inspire students to pursue a specialty that they might otherwise overlook.
More than 50 active medical student organizations help fulfill the School of Medicine and Public Health’s aim to build community and encourage a broad range of educational opportunities. Under that umbrella are the interest groups, from anesthesiology to urology, that help students understand more about a particular specialty area. Also included are advocacy and support groups, which help build a sense of belonging within the school. Community service programs, such as Doctors Ought to Care (DOC) and MEDiC, have a broader aim: to involve students in community-focused work that furthers the Wisconsin Idea.
Medical students who volunteer for DOC, an interest group dedicated to working with young people to promote healthy lifestyles, visit classrooms and make presentations targeted to different age groups. They introduce elementary students to the human body — bringing organs like the brain, spleen and heart into the classroom — while their presentations for middle and high school students focus on how behavior can influence health. DOC volunteers may display organs damaged from behaviors like smoking or cocaine use.
“When you are holding an organ in your hand, you realize how fragile the human body is, and that your choices have long-term impacts,” said Gordy Thompson, one of DOC’s student leaders.
Thompson, a second-year medical student from Grafton, Wisconsin, revels in the participants’ curiosity. One time, a student asked Thompson what the “holes” were for, in a spleen.
“We hadn’t gotten around to the spleen, in my dissection course,” said Thompson. “I had to look it up. We learned that they enable lymphatic drainage, because the spleen plays an important role in cleaning blood and fighting infection.”
That’s an example of the two-way learning that can happen during a DOC event, he said. Not only are classroom participants gaining insights about the body and health, but the DOC presenters themselves are learning how to engage with various audiences, communicate clearly and consider different perspectives.
“I am considering medical oncology as a specialty,” said Thompson. “From what I am learning about cancer medicine, it’s important to explain scientific concepts in ways that engage patients. Working with these students helps me build those critical science communications skills.”
Carol Pincombe, a teacher at Kromrey Middle School in Middleton, Wisconsin, has invited DOC students to her classroom for the last ten years. She said the annual visit is a highlight for her fifth graders, who go home to “share non-stop” about the experience.
“They love hearing about the body systems and being able to ask questions of the ‘experts,’” she said. “The DOC students are just incredible. Despite their grueling schedules, they come in eager to share their passion for the field of medicine and their educational journey. Then they encourage my students to pursue their own dreams.”
Rishika Joshi, a second-year medical student from Milwaukee, volunteers for MEDiC, a student-run interest group with two main goals: improve the health of those in need and educate health professions students in a real-world setting.
“Coming into medical school, I already knew that I wanted to be involved in MEDiC,” said Joshi, who serves in a leadership role on MEDiC’s student board. “I had volunteered at community health clinics in Milwaukee, working with patients who were uninsured and did not speak English, and I wanted to continue that work.”
MEDiC volunteers — which include medical students as well as students training to be physician assistants or pursuing degrees in physical therapy, nursing and pharmacy — work at seven health clinics throughout Madison. They provide intake, coordinate with resource navigators in the community, manage the clinic and offer translation services. Patients are treated by faculty physician volunteers.
“Our clinics care for patients in Madison who would have no access to care other than an emergency room,” said Kristi Jones, director of community service programs for the School of Medicine and Public Health, who advises MEDiC and DOC volunteers. “Students grow in empathy and understanding as they help provide respectful, compassionate care.”
As a volunteer, Joshi takes patients’ histories and communicates what she’s learned to the provider prior to treatment. She then sits in on the full physical exam and discusses the diagnosis with the provider, along with next steps.
“One important thing I have learned is not to make any assumptions,” said Joshi. “We consider not only the medical issue, but also the social circumstances, and how those might play a role.”
Most rewarding for Joshi is seeing the immediate impact that MEDiC can have on a person’s life. Sometimes, she said, it’s as simple as connecting a person with resource navigators for affordable follow-up care or just listening to their concerns.
“Those moments remind me of why I wanted to become a doctor: to help patients feel seen and heard regardless of their circumstances,” she said.
