Internal Medicine Residency Rotations
Our intern class begins the academic year with orientation activities during the last two weeks of June. Floor rotations are spread out between the three hospital sites. Critical rotations occur at Boca Raton Regional Hospital and Bethesda Hospital East. The program will assist osteopathic residents in obtaining AOA recognition and certification of the PGY1 year if desired.
4+1 Schedule
We utilize a 4+1 schedule to emphasize residents' experience in primary care. This allows for dedicated focus on each rotation without needing to leave service for a clinic session.
| Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intern A | Clinic | Service 1 | Service 1 | Service 1 | Service 1 |
| Intern B | Night Float | Clinic | Service 2 | Service 2 | Service 2 |
| Intern C | Elective | Elective | Clinic | ICU | ICU |
| Intern D | ICU | ICU | ICU | Clinic | Service 3 |
| Intern E | Service 3 | Service 3 | Service 3 | Service 3 | Clinic |
Inpatient Services
Our residents rotate at two of our partner hospitals. Residents take the lead role in the evaluation and management of complex medicine patients. The interns work up and manage patients under the guidance of both the supervising residents and the attending physician. Each inpatient team has a teaching attending that works with the team for at least one week at a time.
At Boca Raton Regional Hospital, there are three general medical teams consisting of one PGY3 resident, one PGY2 resident, and two interns. At Bethesda Hospital East, there are two teams, each consisting of one PGY3 resident, one PGY2 resident and two interns.
Medical students from FAU (and sometimes visiting medical students) will be on floor teams and in the ICU. This allows our interns and residents the opportunity to practice their teaching skills and provide valuable feedback to students. The neurology interns and psychiatry interns rotate on internal medicine floor services as well, giving our residents a chance to really get to know their colleagues from the other programs.
Continuity Clinic
The 4+1 schedule improves the continuity in outpatient clinic in that residents can easily schedule their patient panel for follow up visits during their clinic weeks. The dedicated week allows for a greater immersion in primary care, and it builds the cross-coverage skills needed for the real world. We encourage our residents to recruit patients from their hospital services by arranging post-hospital follow-up visits in one of our clinics. We have staff to assist in making those appointments to ensure patients do not become lost to follow up. Residents are provided business cards for their continuity clinic site so that they can give them to prospective patients and build their patient panel more easily.
Medical ICU
ICU rotations occur at Boca Raton Regional Hospital and Bethesda Hospital East. Both sites are overseen by intensivist physicians 24 hours per day. Our residents provide direct care for these critically ill patients including performing procedures under the guidance and instruction of the intensivists. There are two senior residents and two interns on each ICU service. Additionally, residents from the Emergency Medicine Residency Program rotate with us in the Bethesda ICU. Fellows from the Pulmonary-Critical Care fellowship program also rotate in the ICUs and serve as an additional leader and teacher for our residents.
Medicine Sub-specialties
During the three years of residency, residents will rotate through subspecialties of internal medicine to help gain the knowledge and experience needed in those fields. For residents focused on fellowship application, there may be opportunities to do away rotations in the field of their choice.
Other Electives
All residents do a rotation in Addiction Medicine as well as Hospice/Palliative Medicine, typically during the PGY2 year. We are also pleased to offer an innovative geriatric medicine rotation at a local skilled nursing facility with our academic geriatricians where residents gain valuable experience in the care of elderly patients recently hospitalized. All residents complete at least 2 weeks of neurology at Boca Raton Regional Hospital with the residency program. Other elective rotations can be selected to suit the resident's individual interest, such as Dermatology, Physical Medicine & Rehab, Sports Medicine, Radiation-Oncology, and more. Research rotations are available on a case-by-case basis.
Night Medicine
None of our rotations have overnight call; instead, we use a night medicine rotation (consisting of either a single senior resident or a team consisting of an intern and a senior). Night medicine includes both cross-coverage duties as well as admissions under the guidance of nocturnist attending physicians.
Overview of 3-year Rotations
| Rotations | PGY-1 | PGY-2 | PGY-3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-patient Wards | 6 months | 3 months | 3 months |
| Night Medicine | 1 month | 4-6 weeks | 4-6 weeks |
| Medical ICU | 2 months | 1-2 months | 1-2 months |
| Emergency Medicine | 2 weeks | ||
| Geriatrics | 4 weeks | ||
| Addiction Medicine | 2 weeks | ||
| Electives (includes neurology) |
1 month | 3-4 months | 4 months |
Daily Schedule
| Times | |
|---|---|
| Sign-out from Night Med/Transfer of Care | 6:00 a.m. to 6:45 a.m. |
| Morning report (Wed/Fri) |
7:15 a.m. to 8:00 a.m (BHE) 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. (BRRH) |
| Teaching Rounds | 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. |
| Admissions |
11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (M-F) 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Sat/Sun) |
| Sign-out/Transfer of Care | 6:00 p.m. |
Neurology Interns
The neurology interns spend most of their first year with our program, and they follow similar schedules to our categorical interns other than not having the continuity clinic. The neurology interns will also complete several months of neurology rotations in addition to ICU and various electives.