Med-Peds Training Overview
This four year combined training program is designed to provide a comprehensive educational experience in both internal medicine and pediatrics such that graduating residents will have acquired the knowledge, skills, and attitudes essential to the effective practice of these two disciplines. Graduates of the program will be able to function as generalists in practice or in academic settings, but they will also be sufficiently prepared to enter fellowship training areas shared by the two disciplines.
The Med-Peds Program has been constructed on the foundation of two very strong programs in internal medicine and pediatrics and provides each Med-Peds resident with the same exceptional core skills and experiences as the categorical internal medicine and pediatrics residents while offering them the opportunity to explore their personal interests. The program structure allows adequate time to meet subspecialty and core requirements while allowing each resident the freedom to formulate their schedule to suit their individual needs and career goals.
For more details, please download our pdf of the Med-Peds Training Program and Educational Goals.
Basic Structure of the Med-Peds Residency Program
The first year of the residency is divided into alternating, 2-month blocks on internal medicine and pediatrics. Residents are collectively assigned to pediatric rotations for the first two months and then transition to internal medicine as a group for the subsequent three months. This pattern is repeated throughout the intern year. Internship lasts 12 months, following which, residents proceed to more supervisory roles in internal medicine and pediatrics.
Beginning with the PGY-2, rotations are organized throughout the last three years (PGY-2, 3, and 4) of the residency such that every third month is an ambulatory/subspecialty rotation which combines internal medicine and pediatric experiences of a general and/or subspecialty nature. These rotations are known as "Med-Peds Months". When feasible and appropriate, related internal medicine and pediatric experiences are scheduled together to facilitate cohesive education. Core inpatient rotations and other requirements are scheduled two months out of every three months throughout the final three years of the residency.
There are two half day continuity clinics per week housed at two University-based, combined Med-Peds clinics through all four years of training. Beginning with the first year, all residents are assigned to each of the two combined internal medicine and pediatric clinic sites. Residents are assigned to one clinic at the University of Utah Health Network Clinic at the Redwood Center (UUHN RWC), and one clinic at the University of Utah Health Network Clinic at the Westridge Center (UUHN WRC). Residents maintain these appointments throughout the four years of training. Both clinic sites are supervised by dually certified clinical faculty in internal medicine and pediatrics. Having each resident appointed to both Med-Peds continuity clinic sites allows the residents the opportunity to interface with two different Med-Peds faculty, learn from each and benefit from their respective strengths and interests. In addition to supervising resident clinics, the faculty orchestrates and mediates the weekly ambulatory Med-Peds conference series which takes place at the beginning of each Thursday afternoon clinic prior to the start of patient care.
Curriculum
The training program is committed to providing a cohesive, planned educational experience, emphasizing where feasible and appropriate, joint pediatric/internal medicine experiences in adult and pediatric subspecialties. Because the majority of primary care and subspecialty medicine is practiced in ambulatory settings, this training program places special emphasis on ambulatory block experiences throughout the four years of residency, while maintaining an appropriate level of training in inpatient and intensive care settings. Special efforts are made to provide as much opportunity as feasible for continuity of care in the ongoing ambulatory block experiences.
Specific goals, expectations and objectives are provided to the residents and reviewed prior to the start of each rotation on internal medicine and pediatrics. The learning objectives and rotation expectations for each pediatric, medicine and combined rotation are web-based and housed on two servers, Instructure Canvas and e-value™.
Syllabi are presented to guide the residents’ learning for each required rotation they encounter. The objectives for each rotation include those that they are expected to learn in order to achieve competence in each area. Optional objectives are also included in the curriculum for those residents desiring a more intensive training experience in an area. Contact information, scheduling and clear expectations of residents and faculty are listed for each required rotation. Reading lists, web links, practice parameters, practice cases, etc., are provided to optimize each resident’s learning.
Curriculum to train residents to be effective educators (“Residents as Teachers”) and simulation experiences aiming to optimize procedural skills and team communication have been incorporated into the standard curriculum for all Med-Peds residents to augment their skills development in these areas. A global health curriculum and opportunities for international learning experiences in medicine and pediatrics are also part of the structured curricular offerings available for all trainees interested in global health. Refugee health has emerged as a major focus of the continuity clinic experience at the UUHN Redwood center providing residents with a unique opportunity to be exposed to and master their skills of providing comprehensive care to this growing population in Salt Lake City. Dedicated time for research and advocacy work are offered to residents as longitudinal experiences beginning in the second year for those residents with particular interest in pursuing each of these areas.