1. Home
    2.   
  2.   Education
    3.   
  3.   Residency Program Internal Medicine
    4.    
  4. Curriculum

The Internal Medicine resident curriculum is aimed at providing broad-based exposure to all fields of medicine designed to provide training in comprehensive patient management on in the primary care setting. Emphasis is placed on establishing continuity of patient care between the outpatient and inpatient settings. The degree of patient care responsibility is progressive with each year of training. Daily didactic protected time with an emphasis on teaching and learning through clinical cases is an integral part of the curriculum.

Monthly subject-based exams with an emphasis on preparation for ABIM Boards, along with lectures by divisional subspecialists creates a learning environment which has perennially proven to put the Jamaica Hospital Internal Medicine program in the top 5% of IM residency programs in IM Board pass rates.

The residency curriculum is broken down into a block schedule consisting of 26 blocks of 2 weeks duration each.

PGY-1

First year residents are introduced to clinical methods and patient care. The primary goals of this year are to learn the elements of establishing a clinical database (history, physical examination, and evaluation of laboratory data), following an inpatient’s progress, diagnostic planning (sequence & cost effectiveness), and supervised workup. Training includes basic procedural skills for diagnostic workup and treatment, as well as an emphasis on therapeutic planning, patient education, primary care and continuity of care.
Rotation Blocks
Inpatient Medical Floor 14 (28 weeks total)
Inpatient Night Floor rotation 4 (8 weeks total)
Neurology 1 (2 weeks total)
Ambulatory Care Clinic 3 (6 weeks total)
Medical ICU – Day 1 (2 weeks total)
Medical ICU – Night 1 (2 weeks total
Vacation 2 (4 weeks total)

PGY-2

Promotion to the PGY-2 training year implies satisfactory acquisition of the skills outlined under the PGY-1 section. Second-year residents work to further development of the essential skills of an Internist. Clinical data is used to formulate an extended differential diagnosis, with greater emphasis on a diagnostic workup and therapeutic plan. In addition, the PGY-2 assumes an immediate supervisory role for the PGY-1 resident, in which they act as role-models and teachers in the examination, workup, and continuity care planning of patients, as well as the performance of bedside procedures. In addition, they rotate through the core subspecialties of Gastroenterology, Cardiology, and ID, and act as an integral link in subspecialty inter-consultation and patient care.
Rotation Blocks
Inpatient Medical Floor 12 (24 weeks total)
Inpatient Night Floor rotation 2 (4 weeks total)
Ambulatory Care Clinic 1 (2 weeks total)
Medical ICU – Day 2 (4 weeks total)
Medical ICU – Night 2 (4 weeks total)
Cardiology 1 (2 weeks total)
Gastroenterology 1 (2 weeks total)
Infectious Disease 1 (2 weeks total)
Coronary Care Unit Day/Night 1/1(4 weeks total)
Vacation 2 (4 weeks total)

PGY-3

The PGY-3 year represents the product of two intensive years of training in patient care management. Commensurate with their increased maturation, the PGY-3 functions as the senior physician on the team, directing patient care and supervising the first and second year house officers. The PGY-3’s role is to synthesize his or her clinical experience with a review of the current literature and to formulate a balanced academic approach to patient management. Consistent with this view is that the PGY-3 is the academic leader of an assigned team, rotates extensively in the sub-specialty consultations, and acts as a role model for the junior staff. Additionally, the PGY-3 rotates as the Medical Admitting Resident, with a hands-on approach to the evaluation and workup of patients admitted to the hospital, and allowing them to acquire the competence and confidence to transition into excellent physicians in independent practice.
Rotation Blocks
Inpatient Medical Floor 7 (14 weeks total)
Geriatrics / Consult Service 1 (2 weeks total)
Emergency Room 1 (2 weeks total)
Hematology-Oncology / Endocrinology 1 (2 weeks total)
Rheumatology / Nephrology 1 (2 weeks total)
Pulmonology 1 (2 weeks total)
Medical ICU Day 2 (4 weeks total)
Medical ICU Night 1 (2 weeks total)
Medical Admitting Resident Day 3 (6 weeks total)
Medical Admitting Resident Night 2 (4 weeks total)
Non-internal medicine specialty (NIMS) 1 (2 weeks total)
Elective 2 (4 weeks total)
Ambulatory Care Clinic 2 (4 weeks total)
Vacation 2 (4 weeks total)