Primary Care Track

PC Garden Club

Read More: Why should I apply to an Internal Medicine Primary Care Track?

The Primary Care Track at UVM was established in 1978 and provides excellent training to prepare residents for careers in primary care. There are 3 spots per year in this track and it has it’s own NRMP number in the match. Participation in the primary care track offers more training in the fundamentals of outpatient medicine and advanced concepts in primary care practice. Residents in the primary care track have 6-8 additional weeks of ambulatory electives and clinic time per year. In addition, the group participates in a monthly conference with dinner provided to discuss important topics in primary care (chosen by the residents) and also to discuss changes and improvements that should occur in the clinic. The primary care track residents are scheduled to be in the same clinic group which allows for easier scheduling of special primary care activities and educational sessions.  Ample opportunities exist for research, quality improvement projects, population health, addiction medicine and teaching all under the supervision of faculty experts in these domains.

Each year, the primary care track residents and primary care track faculty gather for a day at a faculty member’s home or a local venue for a daylong retreat. Senior level primary car residents develop the agenda with the assistance of the faculty and prior topics have included updates in primary care medicine, career options in primary care in addition to time for wellness.
Our residents have engaged in primary care research over the years and have presented their work at local, regional and national meetings. 

Primary Care Weeks

In addition to the 10 ambulatory primary care weeks each year allowed for by the 4+1 schedule, each primary care resident will spend a number of additional weeks in their continuity clinic. The primary care week schedule is designed individually with each resident to meet his/her career needs. Extra primary care weeks can include extra time in the clinic, teaching in the clinic and self-directed learning projects.  In addition, we offer a number of developed primary care week electives that residents can choose from over the three year program.  A unique feature of our program is that primary care residents receive training to prescribe buprenorphine/naloxone and this training does not need to be repeated after graduation for a special waiver certificate to prescribe this medication. Under the supervision of waivered preceptors, primary care residents learn to care for a small number of patients (1-3) receiving buprenorphine/naloxone as part of their recovery process from a substance use disorder.

Primary Care Track – Electives

  1. Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH)
  2. Outpatient Orthopedics
  3. Women’s Health
  4. Homeless Medicine
  5. Migrant Health Care and Refugee Medicine
  6. Introduction to Health Care Communication
  7. Psychology in Primary Care
  8. Population Health and Panel Management
  9. Outpatient Palliative Care
  10. Addiction Medicine 
  11. Outpatient Subspecialty Clinic  
  12. Comprehensive Pain Management
  13. Clinical Compassion
  14. Rural Primary Care 
  15. Primary Care Research
  16. Understanding Coding and Billing
  17. Design Your Own Elective