Rotations and Residencies — DO

Clinical Rotations and Residencies: Your Path From Student to Practicing Physician

At Des Moines University Medicine and Health Sciences, your journey from Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine student to skilled physician is built through immersive clinical experience. In the College of Osteopathic Medicine, you’ll progress through carefully designed clinical rotations that develop your expertise in whole-person care and prepare you to compete for residency programs nationwide.

Your clinical education begins in August following your second year and continues through graduation. During your third and fourth years, you’ll transition from classroom learning to full-time patient care, working alongside experienced physicians in hospitals and clinics across the country and building the skills, judgment and confidence required for modern medical practice.

Third-Year Clinical Rotations

Your third year focuses on building a strong clinical foundation through 40 weeks of clinical rotations across medical disciplines and diverse care environments. These experiences provide broad exposure to patient populations, clinical settings and medical specialties while strengthening your clinical reasoning and patient management skills.

Where You’ll Train

You’ll work in a variety of hospital and clinic settings under the guidance of experienced physician preceptors who support your development in real-world care environments. Most rotations are four weeks long.

What You’ll Learn

You’ll gain comprehensive experience covering areas such as family medicine, internal medicine, general surgery and pediatrics, along with training in specialties like obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, emergency medicine and medical or surgical subspecialties. Selective and short-term rotations further broaden your clinical exposure.

Through these experiences, you’ll:

• Evaluate and manage patients across a wide range of medical conditions.
• Strengthen diagnostic reasoning and clinical decision-making.
• Participate in outpatient and inpatient care.
• Develop the professional competencies required for advanced clinical training.

For more information about clinical rotation requirements and policies, visit Clinical Affairs.

Fourth-Year Clinical Rotations

Building on your clinical foundation, your fourth year provides advanced training focused on specialty exploration and residency preparation. You’ll tailor your experiences to your career goals while refining your clinical skills in a variety of health care settings.

You’ll gain advanced experience and community-based care — including community medicine, rural medicine or international health — while dedicating the majority of your time to elective rotations aligned with your interests. These experiences help you deepen your expertise, clarify your professional direction and prepare confidently for graduate medical education.

Osteopathic Manual Medicine Scholar Program

For students seeking additional distinction in osteopathic practice, the program offers a one-year pre-doctoral Osteopathic Manual Medicine Scholar Program. Led by the Department of Primary Care’s OMM section, this highly selective opportunity admits four students each year based on demonstrated expertise in osteopathic manual medicine.

As an OMM scholar, you’ll provide hands-on patient care for diverse medical concerns, including musculoskeletal conditions, while advancing your clinical application of osteopathic principles. Scholars also contribute to the academic community by delivering lectures, assisting in laboratory instruction and presenting to local and national audiences. In addition, scholars participate in research exploring key topics in osteopathic principles and practice.

Participants receive a partial tuition waiver and monthly stipend during the scholar program.