PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Program Structure

Program Size: The Internal Medicine Residency is one of 46 “large” (>100 residents) medicine residencies in the country with 111 residents in the Categorical and Preliminary Programs, combined.  In addition we have 16 Medicine/Pediatrics and 15 Internal Medicine/Emergency Medicine residents for a total of 142 residents.  This number of trainees allows us great flexibility in scheduling requested rotations, vacations, family leave and personal days off.

Program Leadership:  The Program Leadership consists of a deep bench of dedicated and experienced clinicians, educators and researchers.  These include our Department Chair, Program Director, five Associate Program Directors, and five Chief Residents.

Chief Residents: We annually recruit four residents who have completed training in our program to stay on for an additional year as faculty and administrative leaders.  They each have specific areas of concentration: the University of Illinois Hospital, the Jesse Brown VA, Ambulatory Curriculum, Research and Education and QI.

12+2 Rotation Format:  Trainees in the senior years benefit from a “12 + 2” format in which there are 12 weeks of inpatient rotations with diminished clinic assignments followed by a 2 week ambulatory experience.  This unique structure preserves the importance of continuity in the clinic but minimizes its interference with inpatient duties.

Multidisciplinary Teams: Patient care teams consist of a wide range of health care professionals including social workers, discharge planners, pharmacy students, and pharmacy residents. Every inpatient and outpatient site has Doctors of Pharmacology on the teams to assist in all aspects of medication administration, and education of other members of the team and our patients.  Medical students from M1 through M4 are present on all general medicine and many subspecialty rotations.  In addition, we train Advanced Practice Nurse Students on our general medicine wards.

Special Tracks:  We have three tracks within the residency.  We offer an Academic Internal Medicine Track that is dedicated to the training of physicians who intend a career in Academic General Internal Medicine.  The majority of individuals pursue academic Hospitalist positions upon completion.  In addition, we have an Urban Global Health Track that has additional didactics and clinical experience consisting of inner city patient care and international rotations in India and the Dominican Republic.  Lastly, we have a Physician-Scientist Track for those with considerable prior research productivity and/or PhD’s.  Acceptance into this track allows the trainee to complete 2 years of Internal Medicine Residency followed by direct entry into the fellowship of their choice.

Preliminary Year: Our Preliminary PG-1s enjoy the same number of electives and opportunities as the Categorical residents with the exception that they do not have a continuity clinic.  However, Preliminary residents can train in subspecialty clinics (e.g. Dermatology, Ophthalmology) if they so desire to get a head start on their advanced program.

HOSPITAL MEDICINE

University of Illinois Hospital:  Approximately 60% of the residents’ inpatient experience is in this 440-bed hospital that has approximately 6,000 admissions a year.  Rotations on ward services include: General Internal Medicine (4 services), Gastroenterology/Biliary, Hepatology, Neurology, Cardiology, Hematology, Oncology, Cardiac Care Unit, and Medical Intensive Care.  Consultative rotations include: Rheumatology, Endocrinology, Nephrology, Infectious Diseases, Pulmonary, Cardiology, Allergy/Immunology, Transplant Infectious Diseases, and Geriatrics.

Jesse Brown VA: Approximately 40% of the residents’ inpatient experience is at this 200-bed hospital that has approximately 4,500 admissions a year.  The new inpatient tower was recently built and is one of the newest and most modern VA towers in the country.  Rotations on ward services include: General Internal Medicine (5 services), Medical Intensive Care and a rotation in the Emergency Department.  Consultative rotations include: Pulmonary, Nephrology, Infectious Diseases, Gastroenterology and Cardiology.

AMBULATORY MEDICINE

Ambulatory Care Teams: Housestaff are a part of an ambulatory care team at both the University and Jesse Brown VA outpatient centers. Each team has dedicated faculty preceptors, nurses, social workers, patient care coordinators and pharmacists to share in the care of patients.

Private Office Experience: For residents dedicated to a career in General Internal Medicine, a weekly ambulatory experience in a general internist’s private office is available.

Telemedicine: We are the State of Illinois Hospital, and thus care for a large number of individuals in prisons throughout Illinois.  Using state-of-the-art equipment, residents will gain experience in distance care of persons who have been incarcerated.  Virtual histories are taken and physicians and/or Advanced Practice Nurses with the patients in the prison infirmary assist with the physical by using a stethoscope that we can also here in our telemedicine suite.  This service we provide has greatly lessened the need to transport prisoners to our facility with no decline in the quality of care.

RESEARCH AND EDUCATION

Scholarly Activity: All residents participate in scholarly activity which ranges from case reports, basic science, translational and clinical research that result in posters, abstracts and published manuscripts. One of our four Chief Residents and five Associate Program Directors is specifically assigned to facilitate this productivity.

Medical Information Services: The UIC Medical Library is the largest Health Science Library in the Midwest and serves as the Regional Medical Library and the headquarters for the Greater Midwest Region National Network of Libraries of Medicine. The network office coordinates library services that provide health professionals with access to biomedical information in a ten-state region. This ensures that the most comprehensive and most technologically accessible library resources are available free-of-charge to all faculty, housestaff and students, whether on campus or at home. All resources are computer-based and include UpToDate, Clinical Key, Harrison’s On-Line, Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment, Medline, PubMed and Ovid. On line access to thousands of journals allows residents to download published papers to facilitate evidence-based practice and scholarly pursuits.

UIC Reading List: The Program Director maintains a password protected online collection of over 7,000 review articles and landmark studies. Organized by subspecialty and topic, these articles form the framework for evidence-based discussions at morning report, teaching rounds, work rounds, and teaching conferences.

American Board of Internal Medicine Pass Rate:  As a product of hard work and the above resources hard work the graduating class of 2017 had a 100% (32 out of 32) Boards Pass Rate.  Our 3-year rolling pass rate is 97%, which ranks us number 4 out of 46 large programs (≥100 residents) in the US.

PROCEDURE AND TEACHING SKILLS TRAINING

Graham Clinical Performance Center:  This multi-million-dollar funded simulation center allows residents to sharpen their procedural and clinical skills prior to beginning their training as well as during their residency.  Manikins are used to teach appropriate techniques for common medical procedures (e.g. arterial line insertion, lumbar puncture).  Our Harvey Manikin and Heart Sound Simulator is used to assist housestaff in honing their cardiovascular diagnostic skills and our full-body SimMan manikin is used to train residents in the management of common life-threatening emergencies prior to their Critical Care rotations.

Ultrasound Curriculum: Clinical training in bedside ultrasound is provided by experienced faculty.  Trainees will become proficient at imaging the heart, large vessels, lung, kidney and bladder, and abdomen.  In addition, an Echocardiography rotation is available for those residents interested in learning how to perform and interpret transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiograms.

Teaching Skills Workshops: Residents participate in training sessions of their choice in their intern year to enhance their skills as educators.

BEYOND RESIDENCY

Fellowship Acquisition: Over the last 15 years, 70% of our graduates pursue fellowships with a 95% successful match rate, and 44% of residents matched into their first choice.  Forty percent of residents have stayed at UIC for the additional training, while 60% have gone to other excellent institutions throughout the country.

Academic Internal Medicine: Over the last 15 years, 30% of our graduates entered careers in general internal medicine.  Over the last 5 years, 75% of the graduates have become Academic Hospitalists.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES

School of Public Health: The campus is home for one of the best schools of Public Health in the country. Residents are invited to work toward a toward Certificate Degrees or a Master of Public Health degree. Courses are on-line or in person.

Spanish Classes: First year residents who wish to begin or improve their knowledge of medical Spanish participate in an optional course that will help increase medical Spanish fluency.

Sports and Fitness Center: Our newly renovated Sports and Fitness Center is located on campus just a block away from each of our inpatient hospitals.  It provides a variety of recreational opportunities throughout the year for students, faculty, alumni, and professionals in the Medical Center District.

Diversity:  Our medical school is the most ethnically diverse medical school in the country and this is reflected in our residency as well as the patient population we serve.  At the University of Illinois Hospital, approximately one-third of our patients are African American, one-third are Latino, and one-third are from a myriad of other ethnicities, cultures and backgrounds representing beautiful diversity of Chicago and our great country.  The Jesse Brown VA renders care to the wonderful men and women who put their life on the line for us and is predominantly an African American population.  We use this richness to study and eradicate health care inequalities and find determinants of ethnic differences in disease outcomes.

Health Humanities Program: The UIC Internal Medicine Health Humanities Program aims to create learning opportunities for residents to engage in the health humanities which are defined as “an integrated, interdisciplinary, philosophical approach to recording and interpreting human experiences of illness, disability, and medical intervention.” Our work is rooted in a desire to understand a patient’s illness experience, how our current healthcare and sociopolitical climate influences this experience, and to reflect on our various roles in caring for others.  We believe that creating space for residents and faculty to collectively question, analyze and critique contemporary practice is vital to their education and that continued self-reflection should be modeled and encouraged.

The Health Humanities program components consist of: Monthly Narrative Medicine Workshops, meeting once per month from 12-1pm. We read and discuss a variety of poetry, visual art, short stories, essays as well as reflective writing prompts and discussions. Residents received conference credit for attendance. Through our partnership with the Art Institute of Chicago, we have evening lectures a few times per year followed by a guided program through the galleries.

Residents my schedule to participate in a 2 week Narrative Medicine Elective where residents will complete various reading and writing assignments under the supervision of Dr. Anna Gramelspacher, including preparing and submitting a narrative publication.

Task Forces and Committees: There is the optional opportunity to participate in two Task Forces:  The Diversity and Inclusion Task Force and Women in Medicine Task Force.  The Diversity and Inclusion Task Force endeavors to maintain our environment of diversity and inclusion and high level of cultural competence with respect to ethnicity, religion, gender preference, and gender identification.  The Women in Medicine Task Force explores ways to enrich the training and advancement of women in our faculty, fellowships, residents and medical students.  Numerous committees in the Department of Medicine, and at the University of Illinois Hospital and the Jesse Brown VA, welcome resident participation and facilitate our quality improvement activities.