Internal Medicine Residency Curriculum

Morning Report

Held twice a week, residents present an interesting case to their peers, medical students, and attending physicians. There is a specific focus on developing skills necessary for building a strong differential diagnosis, appropriate use of labs and imaging as well as strengthening clinical reasoning skills. After the presentation, the presenter discusses clinical pearls or other materials pertinent to the case such as new treatments or clinical trials. Faculty are present to facilitate discussion.

Educational Didactics

Formal lectures occur during our dedicated Academic Half Day on Thursday afternoons. These sessions will prepare residents for in-service and board exams as well as patient care by providing a comprehensive curriculum with dedicated focus on each of the core areas of internal medicine. Additionally, there are sessions focused on our research curriculum to foster scholarly inquiry. Our hospital partners also provide sessions on patient safety and quality measures.

Medical Grand Rounds

On most Tuesday mornings, Boca Raton Regional Hospital provides a Grand Rounds lecture via Zoom. These one-hour conferences highlight attending physicians from our hospital systems and visiting speakers from across the country.

Medical Emergencies Intern Lecture Series

This July educational series includes lectures by our chief residents and other senior residents. These didactics are designed to provide a strong foundation of basic knowledge and to build confidence among the new interns to face both emergency situations as well as common scenarios.

Research Curriculum

Our residents receive the guidance to understand the principles of research and to develop their own research projects. From the basics of project planning and statistical analysis to instruction on effective presentation skills and preparing projects for publication, our residents are provided with tools to be successful in their various scholarly activities.

Ambulatory Didactics

Core topics in outpatient medicine are reviewed each block using the internal medicine curriculum from a resource called PEAC. Residents have access to these online modules, working through the case-based questions and material about a core topic in ambulatory medicine. Senior residents then take the lead in reviewing the topic for the group with faculty facilitation.

Residents will use a clinical question to help guide their search for a relevant article to discuss during Friday afternoon ambulatory half day sessions. Residents learn how to analyze the data and integrate this knowledge into daily practice.

Our residents receive training in medical care and invasive procedures through simulation. The simulation center has mannequins, task trainers, and a well-trained staff to help trainees learn in a safe environment. These practice sessions simulate a range of scenarios including heart sounds/EKG interpretation, interviewing/counselling of patients, rapid responses, codes, as well as a variety of procedures.

At least twice a year, our residency program reviews cases in conjunction with the emergency medicine residency program as part of a combined QI conference.  This conference allows our two residency programs to jointly learn from complicated cases that passed through both of our departments.

Additionally, all residents rotate through a Quality Improvement/Patient Safety (QIPS) rotation during the PGY2 year.  This allows them to review assigned IHI modules to give a foundation for quality improvement and patient safety as well as participate in a variety of Performance Improvement/Quality Improvement and administrative committees at Boca Raton Regional Hospital and Bethesda Hospital East.

Residents are also required to have at least one QI project during residency.  This is often done in teams (commonly in the continuity clinic groups) with residents developing the question, designing the project, and carrying it through to completion.