As a student-run free clinic, the UKSAC depends on you! Apart from serving a population in need, volunteering at the UKSAC will allow you to gain early clinical experience, interact with physicians, and learn how to run basic labs. The clinic is staffed mainly by M1 and M2 students who fill the roles of Floor Manager and Patient Interviewers, but medical students of any year are encouraged to volunteer as their schedule permits. For each clinic night, there are four student positions available: one Floor Manager position and three Patient Interviewer positions. Additionally, there are two Shadowing slots available for new volunteers. Please check the calendar on the homepage and use our contact us page to send the Student Scheduler a message.

Volunteering at the UKSAC can easily fulfill various ICM requirements for first-year students. Working as a Floor Manager or Patient Interviewer with an appropriate portfolio entry can be used as independent learning credit; interviewing a patient with an appropriate write-up can be used to fulfill the second patient story requirement; finally, the UKSAC is available as an Elective Clinical Placement Site.

For first-year students who wish to further enhance their leadership skills and take a more active role in clinic operations as officers, an elective course is offered each Spring.

Pre-medical students interested in gaining valuable experience interacting with patients are encouraged to apply for the triage position. As a triager, the student will arrive at the clinic at 4:30pm and perform one-on-one intake interviews with registered patients to obtain a variety of information. Students who triage a number of times throughout the year are eligible to apply for Floor Manager privileges in the spring. Additionally, undergraduate students may be asked to participate in special clinic projects throughout the year. If you are interested in volunteering as a triager, please use our contact us page to send the Triage Manger a message.

The three patient interviewing positions are available to M2s, M3s, and M4s as well as M1 students who have floor managed at least once and have completed the Spring training session that focuses on interviewing. The interviewing positions simulate the environment of clinical rotations. You will see the patient alone to obtain the chief complaint, HPI, PMH, family history, and perform a focused physical if necessary. You will then present your patient to the attending physician or resident and come up with an assessment and plan together. You and the physician will then see the patient together before discharging him or her.

Volunteering as an interviewer, especially during the second half of your first year, is really the only opportunity you will have to see a real patient, one-on-one. This experience is invaluable as it not only prepares you for the format of clinical rotations, but it also exposes you to aspects of the medical field that you do not get in the classroom.