All Internal Medicine residents participate in an expanded and enhanced ambulatory care educational experience. The program is designed to equip residents with the knowledge and skills necessary to provide high quality primary care. The program places special emphasis on the diagnosis and management of problems commonly seen in the ambulatory setting, interviewing skills, patient education, preventive medicine and core competencies required to deliver comprehensive care in a medical practice.

The core of the ambulatory care experience is in the continuity clinic located in the General Medicine Clinic of St. Vincent's Hospital. Each categorical internal medical resident follows a panel of patients throughout their one or three years of residency and functions as the primary care physician for these patients. Categorical medicine residents have the opportunity to refer patients seen by them in the hospital, emergency room or subspecialty clinics to their continuity clinic.

The General Medical Clinic is structured to provide comprehensive primary care to patients. A time-specific computerized appointment system is employed to ensure continuity of care for all patients. In order to ensure access for patients, the clinic is open on selected evenings in addition to morning and afternoon sessions. A 24-hour answering service is provided for the practice to ensure continuity and complete follow-up of patients who receive their care in the General Medical Clinic. Residents are assigned to one of four primary care teams. If a patient needs to be seen on a day when the resident is not available, a member of the resident's team will provide care for the patient.

In addition to the ongoing continuity clinic, all three-year residents have a total of six blocks of ambulatory care. During these block rotations, residents spend about half of their time in their continuity clinic. The didactic component of the two blocks during the first year consists of small group sessions, which take place during the remaining time of the block rotations and are devoted to interviewing skills, preventive medicine and psychosocial aspects of primary care medicine.

Residents in the second and third year have two block rotations per year. In addition to the time in their continuity clinic, residents may choose from a variety of ambulatory care elective sessions designed to broaden their skills as general internists. These elective experiences can be chosen from the fields of gynecology, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, orthopedics, urology, general surgery, dermatology, liaison psychiatry, neurology, geriatrics, endocrinology and rheumatology.

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• The Education Program
• The Ambulatory Block Rotation
• Section Faculty