Longitudinal Experiences

In addition to the focused block rotations and didactics, residents are also involved in certain educational components in a longitudinal fashion. These continuity experiences include Balint Group, Geriatrics, Junior Precepting, POD Research, and Practice Management.

Balint

Balint is a resident support group held on a monthly basis by certified Balint Leaders. During these sessions, residents discuss challenging interpersonal and emotional components of a patient case they have experienced. Visit Balint's website for more information on their goals and benefits.

Geriatrics

The primary purpose of Geriatrics training is to give our residents the tools and skills to care for elderly patients. First year residents complete wound care training in the hospital and outpatient setting. Second year residents complete a required geriatrics rotation during which they care for patients in a Medicare Skilled Unit and care for elders in a specialty clinic at PSC. The longitudinal experience continues second and third years through home and nursing home visits. To complete a well-rounded formal learning experience, geriatric health topics are covered at least once monthly during Noon Conference.

Junior Precepting

We believe that all family physicians are teachers – we teach students, fellow residents, and patients on a daily basis. To prepare our residents for this role, each third-year resident spends one half-day each block in our family medicine center where he or she acts as a “junior preceptor.” In this role the senior resident provides feedback and guidance on patient care to junior residents, under the supervision of a faculty attending.

Practice Management

Practice Management is designed to provide residents with the information they need to conquer the business side of health care. Residents will complete their training with a working knowledge of coding and documentation, billing and collections, managed care, risk management, professional liability insurance, forecasting, and financial planning. The curriculum includes a minimum of 100 hours of training with the greatest amount of this time reserved for the second and third years of training. Residents will acquire knowledge using several modalities, including self-study, speakers, workshops and hands-on learning. Residents also complete assigned modules of the AMA Introduction to Practice Management online training program throughout the three-years of residency.

Pod Research

Pod research meetings allow faculty, residents and nurses to work together and develop a research project on an annual basis. There are ten lunchtime meetings throughout the year and end with a poster session in June. The meetings are broken into three modules:

1. Principles of evidence-based medicine: study design, literature search
2. Navigating the research process: flow maps, PDSA cycles
3. Statistical concepts: T-tests, risk reduction, linear regression

Working in pods, each group will design and implement a research project. At the end of the academic year, each group will present a poster and with the information they gathered. Residents are encouraged to present these posters on the state and national level as well. For residents with a specific interest in research, a research elective block rotation is also available in the second and third years to provide sheltered time for gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data.

Value Based Care

Family physicians are experts in preventive medicine as well as managing complexities and comorbidities. They advocate for high quality, cost-effective, and high value care which improves health outcomes and patient satisfaction. This takes dedicated effort and time and is best done by empowering all members of the care team. As such, we are incorporating clinic-wide Value Based Care afternoons each block. These afternoons include clinical pod meetings, quality improvement projects, and teaching topics such as population health, panel management, health equity, bridging quality care gaps, and proper coding.