Educational Experience
Print This Page
At Palmetto Health Richland and at Dorn Veterans' Hospital, a resident follow-up clinic is held each weekday afternoon. Each resident is assigned to the clinic for one session per week and attends that session throughout residency training. This allows the resident in-depth follow-up of his/her own patients and provides patients with their own physician.
Patients who are discharged from inpatient care, who require outpatient internal medicine follow-up and do not otherwise have a primary care physician, are offered outpatient clinic care by the same physician who provided the initial inpatient care. New patients also are scheduled to be seen in the clinic.
Additional in-depth training in outpatient medicine is provided during the intern year via a two month-long ambulatory block rotation. Second and third year residents participate in numerous outpatient-based electives.
General medicine teaching activities include morning attending rounds. This allows for open communication between the resident, the senior residents, and the attending physicians. Daily teaching conferences also are held and directed primarily for resident participation. Mortality and Morbidity conference is held monthly. In addition, Grand Rounds are held weekly and offer discussions in Internal Medicine by local or national faculty. Morning Report — a patient-based report that emphasizes "evidence-based medical care" — is held daily at 8 a.m.
7 a.m.
Preround on old patients. Night float attending rounds. New and innovative technologies are utilized in the educational process. USC/PHR emphasizes learning the use of bedside ultrasound for rapid diagnostic studies and to assist in performing invasive procedures. Technical expertise in invasive procedures is taught in a simulator laboratory.8 a.m.
Morning Report (M,T,W,F); Grand Rounds (Th); call begins for long call team.9 a.m.
Round with attending; work rounds; teaching time12 p.m.
Noon Conference1 p.m.
Finish charting, procedures, work up admissions, etc.4 p.m.
Go home when work and education is complete for day, unless on call.
Residents are evaluated by their attendings after every rotation as well as semiannually by the clinic attendings. Each resident meets with the program director on a regular basis to review his/her performance. The Residency Evaluation Committee meets semi-annually to review each resident's performance. Problems are identified and addressed by the program director or the program faculty. Finally, residents are given the opportunity to evaluate their attendings on a monthly basis. Other aspects of the training program can be discussed as needed with the chief residents, the program director or the program faculty.
The Residency Program in Internal Medicine is supported in teaching and patient care by several other departments, especially emergency medicine, radiology, surgery, psychiatry and pathology. Both PHR and Dorn VA have 24 hour respiratory therapy, IV staff, tranport and radiology staff. It is important that all residents are aware of and successfully achieve the four goals of the program:
- All residents will finish the program as outstanding general internists regardless of their chosen career paths (traditional general practice, hospitalist medicine, or subspecialty medicine).
- All graduates will pass the certifying examination of the American Board of Internal Medicine.
- All residents will develop and practice excellent skills that will facilitate life-long learning.
- All rersidents will develop personally as well as professionally.
- The aim of the program is to produce well-rounded, scholarly internists who will contribute to their chosen community.
Fellowships are available in select subspecialty areas of internal medicine, including endocrinology and geriatrics. All fellowship programs are fully accredited by the Accreditation Committee for Graduate Medical Education. Information about these programs and positions can be obtained by writing to the appropriate division director.
The Internal Medicine Residency is composed of areas of comprehensive training which include...
| Post Graduate Year One | |
| General Medicine | 5 months |
| Infectious Diseases | 1 month |
| ICU | 2 months |
| Electives/Ambulatory Clinic | 4 months |
| Post Graduate Years Two and Three | |
| General Medicine | 10 months |
| ICU | 4 months |
| Electives/ER | 9 months |
| Night Float | 1 month |