Curriculum

The residency program has developed a model didactic curriculum for ambulatory internal medicine, including the following components:

The Wednesday morning of every +1 week is devoted to providing comprehensive education in ambulatory medicine and primary care. This is comprised of 3 components:

• 8:00-9:00 AM:  Office-Based Medicine Curriculum – Based on the Yale Office-Based Medicine curriculum, this series covers two “bread and butter” primary care topics per morning in an interactive, case-based format, facilitated by general internal medicine faculty who integrate their own experience and expertise into the discussions.
• 9:00-10:30 AM: Ambulatory Seminars – These interactive workshops and seminars provide residents with the knowledge and skills necessary to thrive as a generalist (see full list). They cover the gamut of generalist medicine, including such areas as:
  • Advanced Interviewing Skills
  • Chronic Illness Care
  • Medical Ethics & Professionalism
  • Health Disparities
  • Community-Partnered Medicine
  • Pain Management
  • Mental Health in Primary Care
  • Substance Abuse
  • Palliative Care
  • Office MSK Procedures
  • Health Policy & Health Economics
  • Billing & Coding
  • Transitions of Care
• 10:45-11:45 AM:  Practice-Based Learning & Improvement (PBLI) Hour – Led by Dr. Jessica Dreicer, Assistant Professor of Medicine in General Medicine, this longitudinal session is devoted to teaching residents how to integrate principles of team-based quality improvement and patient safety into their professional lives. Residents identify quality issues in both their clinical and educational experience that are in need of improvement and work with their +1 co-residents, Dr. Dreicer, and other health professionals to design, implement, and evaluate QI interventions. Residents also complete individual QI projects on their own patient panels, based on data gleaned from our electronic medical record system.

On Mondays and Tuesdays, faculty lead lectures on high yield outpatient topics prior to the start of the clinic day. Mondays feature subspecialty content, followed by primary care topics on Tuesday. The case-based and resident-led outpatient morning report occurs Friday mornings, facilitated by UMA faculty. This provides an opportunity to develop both outpatient knowledge base and small group teaching skills.

An article demonstrating an important study design and addressing a pertinent outpatient topic is discussed once per week before UMA Clinic. Three residents per week review the article in detail with a faculty coach prior to the session. On Thursdays, the resident leads then guides the rest of the +1 group through reviewing the study design and methodology, analyzing the validity of the study and applicability to our patient population.

Primary Care Track residents gather periodically, in a more informal setting, to discuss hot topics in Primary Care with Dr. Kon, other generalist faculty, and occasional expert faculty discussants. Recent articles serve as the springboard for discussion.