Program Summary & Curriculum

The residency program currently accepts 14 intern candidates into each year's class. One half of each class begins their training in medicine, the other half in pediatrics, with each group rotating between departments every four months.
Residents in the combined medicine/pediatrics program spend 16 months as interns. During this time, they are introduced to rotations on inpatient services at our five major hospitals, interspersed with ambulatory and elective assignments to provide a solid foundation in clinical decision-making. Interns' experiences are sufficiently broad and complete to provide them the confidence to transition to a supervisory role at month seventeen. The Med-Peds residents switch between departments every four months, allowing for exposure to seasonal illnesses in both adult and pediatric patients. During the remaining 32 months, the resident performs as a team leader (corresponding to a second or third year categorical resident) expanding his/her role as both clinician and teacher. The supervisory responsibilities blend inpatient and outpatient services to prepare the resident for a variety of future career options. Elective choices are tailored to individual career needs.

The training exposes the resident to the broad range of adult and childhood illnesses. Designed to meet the combined guidelines established by the American Boards of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, the curriculum undergoes continual evaluation and development in response to feedback from residents and faculty. The rotations encompass neonatology to geriatrics, ambulatory, inpatient, emergency and intensive care in public, private and managed care settings.  With the recent focus on competency-based training we have adopted several other important experiences in to the program, which include a quality improvement project, evidence-based medicine learning, professionalism portfolios and clinic passports.

Inpatient team size varies from 2 to 6 residents. The number of patients per intern usually averages from 6 to 10. Determinants of team size include educational goals and patient volume and acuity on the individual services. Third and fourth year medical students are frequently participants in ward teams. Faculty and, on certain services, fellows are readily accessible at all times for assistance and guidance.

All rotations last one month. Night call during the internship is usually every fourth night, ranging from every fourth to seventh day on different services. During the subsequent 32 months, night call varies from every fourth to sixth night, averaging every fifth night. Housestaff have at least four days free of duties each month. There are a number of ambulatory and elective call free months. Residents are encouraged to develop their individual skills via independent scholarly or leadership projects. They also have the opportunity to demonstrate citizenship through participation in residency and institutional committees. Our program strictly adheres to current residency training guidelines.

Didactics are integrated into both departments' activities, including Grand Rounds, morning reports and noon conference series. Each resident is scheduled to present one conference in the PGY3 and the PGY4 years, utilizing skills in literature review, case presentation and/or research. In addition, residents present presentations on the ambulatory block rotation, on geriatrics, on the pediatric community rotation, and for MedPeds journal club. Conference series are designed to allow residents in the combined program exposure to each department's lecture curriculum over their four years.

Curriculum

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