Curriculum

Sample Residency Schedule

Our three-year curriculum includes a wide range of clinical experiences, centered on the residents’ outpatient Family Medicine clinic. Here are a few highlights of the curriculum:

Immersion

Instead of a few days of orientation, our residents begin their training with four weeks of structured learning, designed to aid in the transition to residency. Past residency classes have rated this as extremely helpful in making this transition, and we continue to refine it each year based on resident feedback.

Examples of included activities:

• Review of fundamental FM inpatient/outpatient topics (ECG review, reading X-rays, how to write H&P notes, etc.)
• Standardized patient encounters
• Procedure workshops
• Wisdom from senior/chief residents
• ACLS/BLS/NRP/PALS training
• FCCS training
• Early integration into FM clinic, spending time with office staff and starting to see patients
• Welcome picnic
• Plenty of time to bond with your new co-residents!

Adult Medicine

Our residents receive comprehensive education in adult medicine in both the inpatient and outpatient settings.

Our primary inpatient service (IPS) is an unopposed medicine service at Mount Carmel St. Ann’s Hospital in Westerville, Ohio.

• Residents complete 4 four-week blocks of IPS during the PGY-1 year, 4 blocks in PGY-2, and 2 blocks in PGY-3.
• PGY-1 and PGY-2 residents work day and overnight shifts with no 24-hour call shifts or night float. PGY-3 residents work day shifts only.
• PGY-2 and PGY-3 residents have protected outpatient clinic time during inpatient rotations to maintain continuity for their patient panel.
• In addition to IPS, PGY-1 residents have one month of Emergency Medicine and one month of MICU. PGY-3 residents also have one month of Emergency Medicine.

Our outpatient curriculum is based on a longitudinal experience in our outpatient Family Medicine Center (FMC), located on the St. Ann’s medical campus.

• Each resident has his or her own patient panel for which they serve as the primary care physician.
• As residents progress through the education process, they transition from 1-2 half days per week in the office during their PGY-1 year, to 2-4 half days per week during their PGY-2 year, and 3-5 half days per week during their PGY-3 year.
• During the entire PGY-3 year, one half-day of continuity clinic is spent with a community attending preceptor at a private office. This experience offers residents a chance to learn what the practice of outpatient medicine looks like in a real-world setting, and build a relationship with a non-faculty mentor.
• The majority of the rotations in the PGY-2 and PGY-3 years are ambulatory and often involve one-on-one interactions with subspecialists for optimal learning.

Pediatric Medicine

• Our residents begin their pediatric education right from the start through the Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) and Neonatal Resuscitation (NRP) certification courses during Immersion.
• All residents complete four months of focused pediatric rotations through Nationwide Children's Hospital and one month in the newborn nursery at Mount Carmel St. Ann's.
• In addition to these focused rotations, we also provide longitudinal pediatric experiences both in our FMC throughout all three years and at an outpatient Nationwide Children‘s primary care clinic one half-day per week during available rotations in the PGY-3 year.

Personalized Schedule

No two family physicians are the same. Physicians in this specialty have the opportunity to embark on a multitude of different career paths. At Mount Carmel Family Medicine Residency, we recognize this and encourage our residents to explore their interests and passions.

• Each resident has six months of elective time between the PGY-2 and PGY-3 years. This time can be used in a variety of ways to support the specific needs and interests of each individual resident.
• Examples of previous elective rotations include Urgent Care, Rheumatology, Pulmonology, Palliative Care, Nephrology, Hospitalist Medicine, and Administrative Medicine, just to name a few.
• Our advisor program serves as a strong asset in this process. As a resident, you are expected to meet with your advisor once a month to discuss your progress, including your career goals and elective plans.
• We utilize a detailed "Roadmap to Graduation", which assists both you and your advisor in strategizing your best path without missing any important requirements.

Women’s Health

• PGY-1 residents receive Advance Life Support in Obstetrics (ALSO) training and complete a rotation focused on prenatal care.
• PGY-2 residents spend time in labor and delivery, as well an outpatient OB/GYN office under the supervision of a board-certified obstetrician, while receiving training in obstetrical management and gynecologic procedures.
• Residents provide routine outpatient prenatal services to their pregnant patients in FM clinic, and have the opportunity to then deliver babies with a team of Family Medicine faculty and obstetricians who provide 24 hour attending coverage.

Geriatrics

• PGY-2 residents complete a focused geriatrics rotation at the Chalmers P. Wylie VA Ambulatory Care Center under the supervision of geriatrics fellowship-trained family physicians.
• PGY-2 and PGY-3 residents also receive longitudinal education in geriatric medicine by caring for patients residing in local nursing facilities under the supervision of St. Ann’s Family Medicine faculty. During these afternoon sessions, residents receive education via direct patient care, as well as geriatric-focused didactic sessions.

Sports Medicine

• Our Sports Medicine curriculum includes 2 one-month-long rotations, regular didactic sessions and procedural workshops, as well as sports-related volunteer opportunities to further enhance training.
• PGY-2 residents spend one month in a private orthopedic surgery office, are involved in a multitude of musculoskeletal evaluations and procedures, and receive significant exposure to joint injections.
• PGY-3 residents spend an additional month dedicated to Sports Medicine. This rotation includes time with non-operative primary care sports medicine physicians, caring for both adult and pediatric patients.

Didactic Curriculum

• Our Wednesday morning didactic curriculum has been revamped to include a combination of in-person and virtual learning opportunities.
• PGY1 residents are given protected time to attend didactics on all rotations.
• During any given month, residents will hear from multiple specialists, review topics with core family medicine faculty, cover board review questions led by fellow residents and participate in a monthly journal club.
• Each class also spends time with our behaviorist in a structured support group which meets during this time.
• Once a month, a small group of 6-8 residents spends the morning in the Mount Carmel Center for Innovation Learning. In this small group setting, residents will attend four separate simulation workshops throughout the year: Inpatient Cases, Preventive Medicine, Procedures and Outpatient Cases. This hands-on environment provides a safe place to practice many patient care and communication skills.
• Each month, we also attend Family Medicine Grand Rounds as well as the Combined Residency Education Seminar Series (CRESS). CRESS is a unique lecture series in which all Mount Carmel residents of different specialties gather for specific competency-based and interprofessional learning opportunities.

Quality Improvement Curriculum

• Quality improvement is a component of a physician's lifelong education. As such, our curriculum integrates quality improvement throughout the three years of residency in multiple ways.
• PGY-1 residents complete an Ambulatory Pharmacotherapy rotation, working with our Director of Pharmacy Education to review pathophysiology and pharmacology of core conditions, perform prospective chart review, and implement their learning through informed discussions of risk/benefit with their patients. The placement of this opportunity early in residency helps to provide additional office time, exposure to the electronic medical record, transition in the care of new patients, and direct observation of understanding and thought processes with the provision of valuable formative feedback.
• PGY-2 residents complete a dedicated Quality Improvement rotation, during which time is dedicated to starting or furthering a personal QI/research project. This block is also used to participate in an office-wide QI project and to begin engagement with our Practice Management curriculum.
• PGY-3 residents complete a Practice Management rotation that ties these experiences together. During this time, residents develop an evidence-based smart phrase or template to improve office efficiency, and have time to complete any unfinished QI/research projects. The remainder of this rotation is spent with a full office schedule to simulate a typical outpatient practice schedule.