Schedules and Educational Conferences

Sample Schedule

Conferences

We have a full complement of both general conferences as well as rotation specific educational sessions (ICU, Cardiology, Hematology/Oncology, Ambulatory week didactics).

Noon Report: 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. Monday-Wednesday. Residents turn as teachers to their peers and present an interesting case with an attending (either a general internist or a subspecialist) present to help direct learning. We include board review questions and clinical vignettes relevant to the case to help guide learning. In addition, our Program Director, Associate/Assistant Program Directors and Chief Residents also lead our noon reports.  Noon report is continually voted the best conference by our residents.

Interns Report: 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. every Friday. This is a dedicated resident report session geared towards interns, which allows them to develop their clinical reasoning skills in a supportive environment that fosters independent decision making and critical thinking.

Academic Half Day: Residents have one half day per week of protected time to attend education sessions. Interns have their half day on Tuesday afternoons and senior residents have their half day on Wednesday afternoons, which allows the educational content to be modified to the level of the learner. Core curriculum is delivered in the flipped-classroom format, where generalists and subspecialists help residents work through case-based problems in small groups. Content is organized into blocks by organ-system and subspecialists are involved in developing and delivering core curriculum. The half day curriculum also features Simulation, an ultrasound curriculum, Jeopardy, resident talks, quality improvement projects, ethics discussions and wellness activities.

Resident Talks and Journal Clubs: Residents practice self-directed learning and critical review of the literature with a weekly resident talk series including a monthly journal club.

Quality Improvement: The Department of Medicine Quality Improvement (QI) and Patient Safety curriculum for residents is intended to prepare physicians to incorporate QI, high value care, and patient safety concepts into their current and future clinical care. The curriculum is embedded into the academic half day and taught as small group seminars and mentored, experiential learning. It is divided across the three years of the residency program:

• PGY-1 – Foundations of QI and Patient Safety
• PGY-2 – Facilitated, small group QI projects
• PGY-3 – High value care case studies and root causes analyses, utilizing cases identified by residents

Upper level residents have the opportunity to present their work in local or regional venues.

Grand Rounds and Morbidity & Mortality: 8 a.m.- 9 a.m. every Friday. Grand rounds is a weekly conference on important topics presented by experts in the field from both our own institution as well as speakers from all over the country. At M&M a resident presents a case in front of the department once per month and a case analysis format is used to facilitate improved patient care and safety throughout the institution.

Mock Codes: Each resident participates in this experience 4-6 times per year. This provides residents with an additional opportunity to practice ACLS algorithms and communication skills necessary to being Code team leader in a simulated setting to hone those skills.

Self-Guided Learning: Residents are provided with access to several different self-guided curricula which include the MKSAP and Yale Curriculum.

Ambulatory Week - Core Curriculum: Conferences during the ambulatory week go well beyond the conventional pre-clinic conference, which tends to focus on medical knowledge. Instead, our residents receive balanced training, which also includes training in practice management and clinical skills.

• Tuesday morning intern series from 8:00-9:00 am
• Tuesday morning panel management curriculum 9:00-9:30 am
• Tuesday mornings conference from 9:30 a.m. - 11:00 am
  • Clinical knowledge in 27 core conditions over 3 years (see list)
  • Clinical skills – Evidence Based Medicine, Communication skills, Physical diagnosis
• Wednesday morning conference 8 am- 9 am
  • Case-based hour lecture by one of our primary care preceptors that is adopted from the Yale Ambulatory Curriculum Series
• Thursday 12 p.m. - 1 p.m.
  • Ambulatory noon report in which a resident shares an ambulatory case with their co-residents with input from guest faculty

Topics for Tuesday conference series – 27 topics over 3 years, and 1 special topic each year.

These topics are chosen because they represent the most common conditions seen in primary care, are those things the residents will be most exposed to in the clinic, and therefore a niche for our faculty.

Chronic conditions

• Diabetes
• HTN
• Hypercholesterolemia
• Asthma
• COPD
• Anxiety states – phobia, social phobia, PTSD, panic attacks, generalized anxiety disorder, OCD
• Depression
• Chronic Pain
• ADHD
• CKD in primary care
• Memory loss/diagnosis and management of dementia
• Addiction medicine

Screening and prevention

• CAD – primary and secondary prevention
• Vascular disease:  Abdominal aortic aneurysm screening and surveillance, Peripheral vascular disease screening and secondary prevention, Carotid screening and secondary prevention
• Colorectal cancer  – screening and prevention
• Prostate cancer screening and prevention
• Breast cancer screening and prevention
• Lung cancer screening and prevention
• Cervical cancer screening and prevention
• Osteoporosis screening and prevention
• Pre-op consultation
• Geriatric assessment

Acute medicine

• Evaluation and management of common orthopedic complaints
• Common urinary syndromes – BPH, UTI, incontinence
• Acute spine complaints – neck, low back
• Common ENT infections - Internal and external otitis, sinusitis, pharyngitis
• Cough and the outpatient management of pneumonia/bronchitis
• Common Neuropathies