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Program Highlights/Additional Educational Opportunities

1. Curriculum - Our curriculum is competency-based and is supplemented by an interactive on-line format that emphasizes case-based topics reflecting inpatient and outpatient Medicine. Through our on-line curriculum our residents can address a wide range of topics, with time for reflection and self-study. Inpatient and ambulatory topics are assigned to all residents weekly and are reviewed by assigned faculty. At the completion of a 3-year or 4-year program, all housestaff will have completed 150 inpatient/150 outpatient topics. In addition to the core curriculum, other weekly exercises in the interpretation of EKG's, CXR's, blood smears and wet mounts help develop residents' skills in these areas.

2. Personal and Professional Development Program - Residents must learn to balance the demands of their professional careers and their personal lives. Our educational philosophy emphasizes both personal and professional growth and is supportive of residents who have families. Under the guidance of trained faculty, all interns participate in a series of retreats designed to facilitate discussion on the stresses of internship, their perceptions of the program, and their personal feelings and concerns. Other highly valued retreat topics include a self-assessment, group dynamics, legal and ethical issues, end-of-life discussions, development of problem-solving skills, and transitions to residency. These retreats are scheduled on Fridays during the PGY 1 year and are considered by the residents to be a very important part of the PGY 1 year. Similar morning retreats continue through the PGY 2 and PGY 3 years and deal with other aspects of medical education, including medical errors, professionalism, fellowship application, and contract negotiation.

3. Clinical Skills Assessment Program - All interns are required to participate in the Clinical Skills Assessment Program. Clinical Skills, Part A is done during the beginning of internship. Interns are instructed and evaluated on full physical exams, with emphasis on the importance of history-taking, physical exam skills, clinical reasoning, formal presentation, and feedback sessions. Interns' interactions with patient instructors are evaluated by faculty and through videotapes of the sessions. Immediate feedback is provided to each intern by the faculty preceptor, as well as by the patient instructor. A strength of this program is the special emphasis it places on teaching sensitive exams to incoming housestaff.
The focus of Clinical Skills, Part B is on teaching interns communication skills: delivering bad news to patients, the use of facilitative behavior, educating patients about their illnesses, and being attentive to cues and body language. Interns are videotaped during four clinical scenarios with patient instructors and are provided with feedback at the completion of the exercise.

4. Scholarly Activity - Scholarly activity begins in the PGY 1 year of all the Medicine Programs and grows exponentially. The PGY 1 housestaff are required to present a case in intern morning report at least once a month during inpatient rotations. Evidence-based Medicine is the standard and literature review is expected during case presentations. Interns are also encouraged to present case reports, vignettes, and abstracts at local and/or national American College of Physician meetings. Upper level year residents are required to present daily at morning report while on ward rotations. Journal Club presentations are also required of the upper level years and residents are mentored by faculty in how to critically analyze, interpret, and formally present current literature. In the PGY 3 year, residents are expected to prepare a noon conference with the assistance of a faculty mentor, and present this to their peers at the three major affiliate hospitals during the Summer Survival noon conference series. While it is easy for residents to meet the minimum requirement of scholarly activity throughout the residency, most residents go above and beyond what is expected. Development of residents' leadership and teaching skills is encouraged throughout the three years. After completion of three years, our housestaff are well-trained in formal presentations, comfortable with critical analysis of the literature, know how to access the most current medical information, and most importantly, are comfortable in the role of teaching others these skills.

5. Subspecialty Fellowship Opportunities - The subspecialties in Medicine at the University of Connecticut offer a full range of fellowship opportunities. Positions are available in Gastroenterology, Cardiology (including Interventional Cardiology), Endocrinology, Infectious Diseases, Pulmonary Medicine, Hematology/Oncology, Nephrology, Rheumatology, Geriatrics, and Occupational Medicine. Each fellowship combines intensive clinical experiences with clinical and/or basic science research opportunities. Each of the fellowships is integrated to involve all of our affiliate hospitals, thereby insuring a broad spectrum of clinical experiences for trainees.

6. Research Opportunities - Research and publication are desirable components of the educational process. Abundant opportunities for elective rotations are available at UConn Health Center and its affiliated hospitals for residents interested in research. Many of our residents publish in peer review journals or present their work at national or regional professional meetings. Because we are a springboard for subspecialty training, our Internal Medicine Program residents who intend to pursue fellowship training are encouraged to explore research experiences in their specific subspecialty interest. A maximum of two months in research is available during elective time.

7. MPH Program - The University of Connecticut School of Medicine has been a pioneer in graduate education in Public Health geared towards those working full-time. The MPH program offers an evening course schedule. A select group of residents with an interest in broadening their training to include the unique perspective of health services, research, epidemiology, and health policy is invited to apply to the MPH program. Tuition support is provided.

8. Fellowship in Medical Education

Eligibility

If you are or will soon be a clinical resident or fellow in any specialty or subspecialty at Bridgeport Hospital, St. Vincent's Medical Center, or the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, and you have three or more years of training left, you may be eligible to apply to a new Fellowship in Medical Education offered through the University of Connecticut.

Fellowship Overview

Beginning in July 2007, the School of Medicine and the Neag School of Education of the University of Connecticut will partner to offer a unique, part-time Fellowship in Medical Education that one can pursue in conjunction with clinical training. The Fellowship will consist of courses in adult learning, quality improvement, and medical education and will lead to a Fellowship Certificate and to a Master of Arts degree in Education with an emphasis in Adult Learning. Fellows will be required to pay tuition for all coursework.

Fellowship Goals

Based on a thorough understanding of adult learning principles and strategies, the primary goal of the Fellowship in Medical Education is to prepare physicians for academic careers in health professions education. A secondary goal is to provide physicians with the necessary preparation to become future leaders and researchers at all levels of medical education.

For More Information

Applications for the first Fellowship cohort will be available in December 2006. To express an interest in more information about the Fellowship as it becomes available, contact Dr. Tom Van Hoof at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine at vanhoof@uchc.edu.

9. Board Pass Rate - The ABIM Board pass rate consistently remains above 90%. The In-Training Exam is required. Structured and individualized feedback is provided. MKSAP review during morning report is coordinated across all clinical sites.

10. Evaluation and Feedback - The Residency Program uses a multi-model evaluation system that includes videotape sessions with clinical instructors, clinical evaluation exercises that are performed in the presence of faculty, peer review, and monthly performance evaluations of the inpatient and ambulatory experiences, and of ICU rotations. Evaluations during electives and selectives are done by faculty preceptors in those specific domains. Also critical to residents' professional growth is the Biannual Evaluation that is completed with the continuity clinic preceptor. This evaluation reviews the progress of the resident on each rotation, identifies strengths and weaknesses, develops plans to improve performance, and updates procedural competency. Each resident's career goals are discussed and opportunities to realize those goals are identified.
Our evaluations system is fully electronic. All of our Residency Programs utilize www.myevaluations.com software to enhance our ability to evaluate housestaff and our housestaff's ability to evaluate the various programs, faculty, and affiliated hospitals. Our on-line evaluation system ensures effective, real-time evaluations that encourage self-improvement and program enhancement.

11. Recent Academic Achievements

• 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Place, 2005 University of Connecticut Health Center CQI Symposium
• 2nd  Place, 2005 Connecticut Regional ACP Meeting, Clinical Vignette Presentation
• Winner of the 2004 Regional Society of General Internal Medicine Meeting, Resident Oral Abstract Presentation.
• Winner of the 2004 Connecticut Chapter of the American College of Physician's Medical Jeopardy.
• Third Place winner of the 2003 Connecticut Regional American College of Physician's Meeting, Clinical Vignette Presentation.
• First Place winner of the 2003 Connecticut Regional American College of Physician's Meeting, Oral Abstract Presentation
• Winner of the 2003 Regional Society of General Internal Medicine Meeting, Resident Oral Abstract Presentatio

12. Medical Student Education - Our Residency Programs value the role that residents have in shaping the choices of medical students and therefore emphasize one-on-one teaching in the ambulatory and inpatient rotations. There is a very strong link between the UConn School of Medicine and the Medicine Residency Programs. Medical students are specifically integrated into the housestaff experience in all required rotations. http://Medicine.uchc.edu/

13. Education Committee - Because we are a multi-hospital program with five integrated Medicine Programs, it has been a long-standing tradition that the Program Director, Associate Program Directors, Site Directors, Ambulatory Directors, and Chief Medical Residents meet weekly to discuss our educational program, curriculum, evaluations, promotions, recruitment, hospital sites, and housestaff in an effort to continuously improve our educational product. Our program emphasizes evaluation, improvement, and striving to be the best as we achieve our ultimate goal of preparing housestaff to pursue their professional goals upon a strong foundation of General Internal Medicine. The educational bond that exists between our hospital facilities is our strength and the reason we succeed. We train our housestaff by providing an environment of support, collegiality, strong faculty-housestaff relationships, and educational enrichment.