Education

Family Medicine Residency
Curriculum

Family Medicine Residency The content of family medicine training is specified by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education and the American Board of Family Medicine. Each specialty rotation is designed to maintain flexibility and to meet accreditation and board requirements. The curriculum is reviewed continuously to meet the present and future needs of our residents. The primary objective is to aid you in personal growth while acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary for obtaining a high level of professional competence.

Procedural skills have become increasingly important in the ambulatory setting. For this reason, our program has focused on providing residents with opportunities to learn a wide variety of procedures including colposcopy, exercise stress testing, casting and splinting, joint infection, lesion removal, colonoscopy, cryosurgery, LEEP, obstetrical ultrasound, and other minor surgical procedures.

The foundation of the resident’s education is the patient care provided in the Family Medicine Center and on the Family Medicine Teaching Service. Residents develop and maintain a continuing physician-patient relationship. Residents see patients in the Family Medicine Center 1 to 2 half days per week as first years, 3 to 4 half days per week as second years and 4 to 5 half days per week as third years. During the Family Medicine Teaching Service rotation, a team of residents and faculty provides care for the in-patient service. During this time, residents also serve as consultants for patients hospitalized by other physicians. The faculty members are scheduled to allow for maximum availability for consultation and teaching in both the inpatient and outpatient settings.

As part of the educational experience residents have the opportunity to select a total of four and a half months of elective time during the three years of training. Elective time is flexible to accommodate the differing career paths and interests of individual residents. Elective blocks vary in length from 1 week to 1 month. Residents have the opportunity to experience such electives as allergy, anesthesiology, cardiology procedures, dermatology, gastroenterology, general internal medicine, hematology/oncology, hospice and palliative care, industrial medicine, neurology, obstetrics, oral surgery, plastic surgery, podiatry, nephrology, pulmonology, rheumatology, and sports medicine, just to list a few. Residents have an opportunity to design a rotation not routinely offered, such as an international rotation, or a clinical rotation not normally provided in our curriculum. Over the last several years, many of our residents have taken advantage of this opportunity.

Print version of the class curriculum

Training Experience

Year I

Year II

Year III

Office Experience 1-2 half days per week 3-4 half days per week 4-5 half days per week
Cardiology ---- ---- 1 month ---- ----
Community Medicine ---- ---- 1/2 month ---- ----
Elective ---- ---- 1 month 3 1/2 months
Emergency Medicine 1 month 1 month ---- ----
ENT ---- ---- ---- ---- 1/2 month
Family Medicine Preceptorship ---- ---- ---- ---- 1 month
Family Medicine Teaching Service ---- ---- 2 months 2 months
General Surgery 2 months ---- ---- ---- ----
Gynecology ---- ---- 1 month ---- ----
ICU/CCU ---- ---- ---- ---- 2 months
Internal Medicine 4 months 2 months ---- ----
Museuloskeletal and Sports Medicine ---- ---- ---- ---- 1/2 month
Obstetrics 2 months 1 month ---- ----
Ophthalmology ---- ---- ---- ---- 1/2 month
Orthopedics 1 month ---- ---- ---- ----
Outpatient Geriatrics ---- ---- ---- ---- 1 month
Pediatrics 2 months 2 months ---- ----
Practice management ---- ---- ---- ---- 1/2 month
Psychiatry ---- ---- 1/2 month ---- ----
Radiology ---- ---- ---- ---- 1/2 month
Urology ---- ---- ---- ---- 1/2 month
Additional behavioral science, community medicine, practice management and geriatrics curricula are included longitudinally throughout the residency training.