Curriculum

Our curriculum is built on a strong foundation of general internal medicine with experiences offered in all of the subspecialties of internal medicine as well as several other areas including PM&R, interventional radiology, and sports medicine.  Our residents have an active role in the curriculum development and review process as part of our curriculum committee.  We value the feedback from our residents and use that to help enhance and modify the curriculum. 

Our curriculum includes:

• Academic Half Day:  In lieu of traditional noon conferences, our program offers an Academic Half Day with program-wide attendance by both residents and program leadership.  These sessions will prepare residents for in-service and board exams. 
• A comprehensive curriculum by organ system to allow dedicated focus on each of the core areas of internal medicine
• A comprehensive research curriculum that fosters scholarly inquiry leading to presentations at scientific meetings and peer-reviewed publications
• Sessions on patient safety and quality measures for our hospital partners
• A formal curriculum in evidence-based medicine
• Morning/Noon Report:  Residents present an interesting case with a faculty proctor.  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.
• Quality improvement conference:  we review 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
• Journal club:  during the ambulatory week, we utilize the small group setting to learn techniques of critically appraising articles.  Senior residents lead the discussion with the help of faculty facilitators
• Ambulatory didactics:  core topics in outpatient medicine are reviewed each block using the Internal Medicine curriculum on 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. 
• Critical care journal club:  held monthly, this conference consists of appraisal of an article pertinent to critical care by junior residents under the guidance of one of our intensivists.  Residents from the surgery resident also participate in this conference. 
• Humanities curriculum:  each month, Dr. Gundersen, the fellowship director for Hospice and Palliative Medicine, leads a discussion over lunch focusing on critical reflection of topics in healthcare in an effort to foster skills such as empathy, observation, self-care, connectivity and teamwork
• Grand rounds:  held on Tuesday mornings at Boca Raton Regional Hospital, this teleconferenced series reviews important topics in internal medicine with a combination of staff physicians and guest speakers from outside institutions. 

Simulation Training:

• Simulation training begins in first year at the Medical Simulation Center located on FAU’s Boca Raton campus. 
• Initial sessions are geared towards history taking and physical exam skills as well as self-assessment of EKG interpretation. 
• In the PGY2 and 3 years, simulations involving codes and rapid response situations as well as procedural skills are provided in scheduled sessions during ambulatory weeks.

Evidence-based Medicine:

• The ability to find, appraise, and apply evidence in clinical practice is one of the central themes in our philosophy of medical education.
• Through a longitudinal multidisciplinary curriculum, residents learn the principles of evidence-based medicine including: literature searching, critical appraisal, and evidence-based clinical decision-making.
• This is done via our journal club during ambulatory weeks as well as during critical care journal club

System-based Practice and Quality Improvement/Patient Safety:

• Our goal is to give every resident the opportunity to innovate and improve patient care in our own institutions, whether projects arise from insights during a clinical rotation or the Quality Improvement/Patient Safety (QIPS) rotation.
• During the PGY2 year, residents have a chance to participate in a variety of Performance Improvement/ Quality Improvement and administrative committees at Boca Raton Regional Hospital and Bethesda Hospital East via the QIPS rotation.
• IHI modules are assigned as part of the rotation in order to give a foundation for quality improvement and patient safety
• Residents are required to have at least one QI project during residency.  This is often done in teams, with residents developing the question, designing the project, and carrying it through to completion.

Continuity Clinic:

• FAU Medicine operates two outpatient clinic locations, at Boca Raton Regional Hospital and Bethesda Hospital East, where residents follow their own panel of patients, many of whom they cared for on their inpatient services. 
• FAU core faculty supervise patient care activities and facilitate the didactic and journal club sessions during the clinic week. 
• During this +1 week of the schedule, residents are scheduled for a total of 5-6 sessions of patient care.
• 2 sessions per week are dedicated to personal improvement (PI) time.  These PI sessions allow residents the flexibility to tend to personal matters, work on research and scholarly projects, rest, or focus on their overall wellness.