Last year, 100 percent of the Class of 2009 joined the Family Practice Club, says Christopher Mcintosh, second-year student and vice president of Student Government .

“We want the same for the Class of 2010.”

One hundred percent he says? How does that come about?

It starts with OU-COM’s Student Organizational RUSH, the initial phase of which was held for two consecutive days in the middle of September. The presidents of the almost two dozen or so student organizations, some national but most OU-COM chapter organizations, made pitches for first- and second-year students to join them. Some of the clubs were the Health Policy Club, Pediatrics Club, Student Osteopathic Internal Medicine Association, Christian Medical and Dental Association and the Student Osteopathic Research Association.

“The club presidents gave really great speeches about their organizations,” says Mcintosh. “Their presentations were very well put together and used PowerPoint.”

The next phase is Monday, Sept. 25, noon to 1 p.m., where set up in booths on the Bricks of Irvine Hall will be those same organizations ready to sign up interested students.   

“The presidents from all the organizations and probably one other officer will be there to answer questions that first-year students have and to sign them up. The first-years don’t even have to pay dues or make a firm commitment to a club unless it’s a national club.”

National clubs require that students who have signed up with them begin paying dues, but not OU-COM chapter clubs.

During this phase of RUSH, students can learn even more about the clubs by getting involved, says Mcintosh.

This allows students the opportunity to see what activities clubs sponsor and whether or not the fits them well before they begin paying dues.

OU-COM’s student clubs provide great community experiences and doorways into clinical experiences that are sometimes difficult to have until after medical school, he says.

The suture clinic is one such valuable experience.

“It’s very popular with first- and second-year students every year. The Emergency Medicine Club and Sports Medicine/Surgery Club offer it. Clubs can really help supplement your learning.”

Membership in the Family Practice Club has at least two practical advantages, he says. Its journal, which members receive, publishes excellent clinical information and is very handy for use in case-based learning.

“I found it very useful by helping me understand material I was learning in class. It was ironic that many times the journal had in it things I happened to be learning simultaneously in class.”

Second, if the Family Practice Club has 100 percent enrollment, the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians provides supplemental funding that, in part, goes towards fulfilling the club’s dues requirement.

This year, Mcintosh says he thought the American Medical Association, American Medical Student Association and the Student Osteopathic Medical Association also piqued the interests of his classmates.

“My best advice is to remember that you are in medical school and not to sign up for too many clubs,” says Mcintosh. “Clubs are time commitments, and you can get spread too thinly between medical school and clubs. On the flip side, make sure that you are involved in at least one national club and one specialty club.

“Not too much, but not too little.”