Experience with a multidisciplinary emergency medicine clerkship.

In 1979 a required emergency medicine clerkship was added to the senior curriculum at the Medical College of Virginia. Coordinated by the Department of Surgery but receiving active support from other disciplines, the emergency medicine clerkship combined clinical participation in emergency care with a balanced academic program of lectures, conferences, and advanced cardiac life-support training. The program evolved into a popular and productive experience and stimulated positive changes in the emergency unit at other levels.