Curriculum

We are proud of the Department of Medicine’s long history of preparing residents for fulfilling careers as leaders in academic and clinical medicine. We are committed to providing our residents excellent education and training in a warm and friendly environment.

Inpatient Curriculum

Noon Didactics

Nuts & Bolts

This series of lectures is particularly helpful to our incoming PGY1s but also serves as a great refresher for senior residents. The first portion of the academic year is dedicated to didactics on topics commonly encountered in internal medicine, such as COPD, pneumonia, atrial fibrillation, heart failure, UTI, AKI, strokes, and GI bleeds. 

Morbidity & Mortality Conference

This monthly case-based series includes expert opinions from a wide variety of specialists. This is a department favorite, thanks to the careful focus on learning together in a psychologically safe environment.

Longitudinal QI Curriculum Experience

PGY2 residents work in teams with their clinic “pod-mates” to design and complete a Quality Improvement project of their choice. Projects conclude with a presentation to the program during noon conference.  Many resident projects have created sustainable change in our hospital and are presented at local and national meetings.

Patient Safety Conferences

Senior residents, working in teams of five, evaluate an error and conduct a thorough root cause analysis. Change agents with the hospital are interviewed and invited to join a “Morbidity and Mortality” style conference which is focused on identifying opportunities for system change. Conferences have included leaders like nurses and nurse managers, police officers, communication skills experts, medical informaticists and the Chief Operating Officer. Many of these conferences have resulted in action items that produce real system change.

Scholarship Curriculum

Residents explore research, scientific writing, and other scholarly activities via noon conference didactics and team-based learning sessions delivered in an 18-month rolling curriculum. Additional “Research in Progress” days showcase the ongoing scholarly work of our residents.

Journal Club

PGY2 residents lead our journal clubs, guiding discussion of new and classic journal articles, with a focus on the development of critical literature review skills. Faculty mentorship and guidance helps ensure high-quality learning from each journal club.

Communication Curriculum

Effective communication skills are taught and practiced in spaced noon conference sessions. A PGY1 retreat includes dedicated time devoted to simulation and role play activities. Principles include active listening, emotional intelligence, goals of care discussions, leading debriefs, and more.

Specialist Conferences

Thrombosis conference highlights thought-provoking VTE cases with insight from a multidisciplinary panel. Our hematology department delivers highly interactive case-based didactics designed to help our residents achieve proficiency in common hematologic issues. These spotlight just a few of the many specialty topics included in our curriculum!

Razor Case

Residents and faculty compete to solve a difficult diagnostic dilemma in the most cost-effective manner possible.

Senior Resident Grand Rounds

Each PGY3 delivers a grand rounds on a topic of their choice. Residents are given feedback from faculty on content, effective delivery and audience engagement.

Wellness Curriculum

Professional fulfillment necessitates a culture of wellness, efficiency of practice and personal resilience, which are explored in a variety of ways including didactics on coaching, resilience, self-care, the impact of sleep on cognition and safety, and suicide awareness. PGY2 residents engage in a narrative writing retreat designed to cultivate a practice of reflecting on meaningful events during training. In February, our wellness week features noon conferences dedicated to wellness activities, such as painting, massage, and games.

Board Review

Senior residents hone their teaching skills by leading this weekly interactive board review session. Board style questions are presented from resources such as MKSAP and UWorld.

Academic Quarter Day

This monthly team-based learning conference covers a variety of core clinical topics like heart failure, cirrhosis, glomerular disease, as well as humanistic topics such as cognitive biases. A two-hour block of protected time allows for a more in-depth exploration of complex topics.

Best Case Scenario

Once the work of the day starts wrapping up, floor teams meet for focused, high-yield learning. These morning report-style sessions convene twice per week in the afternoon and focus on clinical reasoning and management of interesting cases recently seen on the wards. The chief residents and faculty design these half-hour sessions to be valuable to all our learners, from medical students to senior residents.

Professional Development

This forum, led by our Communication Skills Director in partnership with our employee assistance program, provides a safe space for discussion of difficult topics, bonding within the cohort, voicing struggles or concerns, and supporting one another.

Residents as Teachers

This innovative addition to the curriculum was developed in response to resident feedback. The Residents as Teachers week includes time for reflection and cognitive recovery following night float. Residents participate in code simulations, didactics on high-yield medical education principles, and opportunities to practice those principles with medical students by leading medical student rounds, board review sessions, and occasionally “Best Case Scenario.”

Simulation and POCUS

Our state-of-the-art simulation center serves as the focus for our growing curriculum of hands-on skills and practice. At the beginning of each academic year, all residents participate in workshops to learn and practice common procedures such as lumbar puncture, paracentesis, arthrocentesis, thoracentesis and central venous access. All categorical interns complete an Introduction to POCUS elective before their first ICU rotation, and ongoing POCUS experiences are available for all residents. Frequent simulations help our residents keep their skills sharp.

Ambulatory Curriculum

Y-Week Didactics

Residents on their clinic weeks enjoy an entire half day set aside for high quality, interactive team-based learning sessions focusing on core primary care topics. These half-days include content from subspecialists, case-based teaching, and opportunities for POCUS learning.

Clinic Chalk Talk

Each Thursday, the residents on Y-week spend the first hour of clinic learning about a high-yield outpatient topic. A senior on the Residents as Teachers elective prepares and delivers the chalk talk, focusing on diagnosis and clinical management of a condition commonly encountered in the outpatient setting. Over the course of the year, we work through many high-yield subjects such as hypertension, UTIs, and back pain.

Educational Support

All incoming categorical interns receive digital MKSAP. Interns receive 1 year of paid membership to ACP, which includes access to resources for QI, POCUS, and much more. Additionally, all categorical residents are provided with a yearly stipend to purchase books, question banks, software, iPads, etc.