Academic Environment/Didactics

Weekdays between 3 and 4 p.m. This is an attending/chief resident-led discussion geared to reviewing pathophysiology, fundamentals of physical diagnosis and early skills of clinical decision-making. There is focus on patient evaluation and clinical reasoning skills. The presentations are scheduled to include cases from the inpatient wards, as well as interesting cases from residents in ambulatory care or elective rotations. Afternoon reports are held at both campuses, and resident feedback is solicited to help develop a schedule of requested topics.

Weekdays between noon and 1 p.m. This daily conference is developed as a programmed yearly curriculum, focusing on the core concepts that have been selected by the Curriculum Committee as the critical components of the discipline of internal medicine. It is designed to prepare our residents for the American Board of Internal Medicine exam. Conferences are presented by internists and subspecialty faculty. Noon Conference presentations are posted on New Innovations™ for residents to review as needed throughout training. The faculty uses yearly ACP In-Training Exam results to mold the noon conference curriculum in collaboration with the program’s Curriculum Committee to focus on not only high-yield topics, but topics that multiple residents answered incorrectly.

A monthly conference during which the residents select and critically appraise articles published in major medical journals, the practical application of statistical methods, and presentation skills. This practice emphasizes the skills necessary to analyze and implement information conveyed in medical journals. Timely and clinically relevant articles are selected to illustrate core topics of evidence based medicine.

Patient care scenarios in which the outcome was unexpected are discussed in a multidisciplinary team setting. It is a self-reflection exercise to identify opportunities to improve patient care quality and safety and identify issues related to the systems of care.

With a mix of both external and local experts, our grand rounds cover a variety of topics in both general internal medicine as well as subspecialties.

These are also high quality, resident-run conferences held on Friday mornings. Residents present a case and deliver a lecture on the topic that the case highlights. Residents are assigned to do at least two of these conferences by the time they graduate, which contributes to gaining a uniquely large amount of oral presentation experience during training. These conferences are approved for Category 1 CME credit for participants.

Senior residents present an interesting case or topic to the fellow residents and faculty once per month.

A series of 30-minute sessions held in the beginning of the PG1 year, addressing the most practical issues PGY1s have when beginning their residency training. Topics are selected by both PGY1 and senior residents. Seniors present information in an informal format. Some topics include: “Medication Reconciliation,” “Effective Communication with Team Members,” and “RRT/Code Blue, the Intern’s Role.”

A series of topics designed to assist Interns in their transition to the Senior Resident role. Some of the topics include: “You are the RRT Leader”, “How to Write a Medical Consult” and “Approach to Mechanical Ventilation”.

Daily bedside attending rounds are conducted with the entire team, where the art of history-taking and physical exam skills are refined, as well as the management of each patient case by case.

Conducted throughout the academic year, questions are selected from MKSAP, and only the most board relevant questions are reviewed to ensure a more valuable teaching session with the residents. Board review sessions are led by internal medicine and sub-specialty faculty physicians.

Hand-off communication is held three times a day to transition patients from daytime coverage to night coverage to morning coverage. Hand-off is a verbal and written face-to-face activity designed to provide a safe transition of all teaching patients to their next provider of care. These discussions are supervised by Faculty, Chief Residents, and/or Senior Residents.