Overview

Mission Statement:

To produce inspired physicians who provide high quality, compassionate, patient- centered, holistic, evidence-based, open-minded, resource-conscious medical services in response to unmet needs, across the life spectrum, cultures and conditions.

Family Medicine Curriculum

The UIC Family Medicine Residency has a carefully constructed core of educational experiences which prepare each resident to practice with skill and compassion. Beyond this core of training, this residency offers customized educational experiences to meet each resident's learning needs and post-residency plans. These customized educational experiences include four months of elective rotations, community medicine projects, group projects in scholarship (Research and Inquiry), quality improvement, teaching projects instructional medicine and additional degree programs. The curriculum provides both the structure and flexibility to prepare residents to realize their own vision in Family Medicine.

Focused Experiences (Rotations)

Rotations in the Family Medicine curriculum are 2-4 weeks in duration. All rotations take place at the UIC-affiliated hospital that provides the best training experience for our residents in that area. All required rotations occur at the University of Illinois Medical Center except Surgery, Cardiogloy, Neurology, and Medicine Intensive Care Unit, which all take place at the Jesse Brown Veteran’s Administration Medical Center (conveniently located across the street from the UIC west campus) and 6 weeks of obstetrics at Michael Reese Hospital. Elective rotations may, with approval, take place at other settings, as chosen by individual residents.

Please see the block rotation diagram for a list of rotations by post graduate year.

Detailed PGY1 Curriculum
Detailed PGY2 Curriculum
Detailed PGY3 Curriculum

Weekly Family Medicine Residency Education Sessions

All Family Medicine residents participate in a one-half day per week structured learning experience. Following departmental Grand Rounds, these sessions focus on family medicine content, clinical reasoning, community medicine, cultural process content and skills, communication skills, basic procedural skills, and focused self-education.

Long Term Care Program

Residents provide long term care to a continuity panel of 2 to 4 patients at the Renaissance at Midway residential care facility during their second and third year of training. Care supervision and education is provided by John Illie, MD, a fellowship trained Geriatrician and Assistant Professor of Clinical Internal Medicine at UIC.

Family Medicine Conferences

Conferences take place every Wednesday afternoon from 1:00-5:00pm. Morning report takes place each Tuesday and Thursday morning and is open to all residents, faculty and medical students who are able to attend. (Conferences Schedule)

CORE Family Medicine Series

The CORE series is an innovative educational series that covers the core content of Family Medicine. It is comprised of 120 presentations that each family physician will manage (e.g. gastrointestinal bleeding, abnormal LFTs, palpitations). Sessions are case-based, interactive and evidence-based. These sessions frequently involve real–time problem solving, searches for best practices through the use of our multiple laptop computers and wireless internet access.

Grand Rounds

Speakers for the Family Medicine Department and the university medical center present topics of interest to the residents, Family Medicine faculty and medical students.

Morning Report

Cases for the Family Medicine Inpatient service are presented by residents and discussed with residents and faculty. Four to six faculty attend each Morning Report, providing a depth of experience and guidance.

Balint

This session is jointly led by Maria Devens, PhD, the residency’s Behavioral Scientist and Jeffrey Rubin, MD, one of the Family Physician faculty members. Balint sessions allow residents to focus on problematic interactions they have had during their patient care encounters, and draw on the wisdom of the group to grow as physicians.

Inquiry Series

This is a unique educational series involving residents in scholarly inquiry in medicine. Residents develop skills in forming searchable questions, locating, evaluating and then applying the best medical literature and guidelines. During the year residents also conduct in small groups (including one resident from each post–graduate year) a quality improvement project of their own choosing and design.

Patient Management

Senior residents prepare and present interesting cases from their clinical work. Faculty assist residents in their preparation and with educational content.

Behavioral Medicine

Important areas of behavioral medicine are taught in a longitudinal series. Presenters include members of the Family Medicine faculty and university faculty from other departments.

Morbidity & Mortality

During these sessions cases from the department are presented by faculty or residents and analyzed for opportunities to improve our practices.

Workshops

Various workshops allow hands-on practice of procedural skills along with the necessary cognitive content.

Community Medicine

The Community Medicine experience is a longitudinal curriculum which prepares residents to understand and provide holistic biopsychosocial care for patients across diverse cultures and socioeconomic contexts.

Practice Management

The practice management experiences prepare residents in the financial, health systems and leadership facets of Family Medicine in America today.

Clinician's Meeting

All residents and faculty discuss matters related to our outpatient clinical work. Residents participate in and learn from the running of our practices.

Quality Meeting

All residents and faculty conduct ongoing activities to improve our clinical work. Recent initiatives have included GBBS screening measures, delivery of evidence based prevention services and monthly review of significant inpatient and obstetrical cases.

Other Specialty Conferences

Each specialty service in the university holds ongoing conferences in their specialty areas. These are attended by our Family Medicine residents when on Pediatrics, Surgery, Medicine, Obstetrics, Orthopedics, Radiology, Ophthalmology and Psychological Services. These and upwards of 50 other conferences are open to all Family Medicine Residents.