Education

The Med-Peds Residency Program is a four-year training program leading to board eligibility in both specialties. The objectives are to train general physicians for practice/academic careers addressing the spectrum of illness in newborns, children, adolescents, and adults. Graduates of our program have entered a wide range of fields including: primary care, emergency medicine, hospital medicine, academic medicine, pediatric subspecialties, internal medicine subspecialties and combined med-peds subspecialties.

Curriculum

The four years of training are designed to provide an ideal educational environment to prepare residents for not only clinical practice but also for Board Certification. Our curriculum consists of an excellent mix of outpatient and inpatient rotations to ensure that residents are provided with the best clinical experiences. Residents will have the opportunity to work in a wide variety of locations, including all of the University of Kentucky facilities as well as the Shriner's Hospital for Children, community-based clinics and school-based clinics. Our curriculum was designed to comply with all of the Guidelines for Internal Medicine-Pediatrics Residency Training as specified by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) and the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP).

Our program has several unique aspects. First, our residents rotate at four-month intervals. This provides a complete spectrum of medical problems throughout the seasons of the year. Second, we have dedicated combined specialty months to allow our residents to explore a variety of pediatric and adult care specialties in a single month. Last, we have a dedicated med-peds curriculum, which provides our residents with not only an outstanding education in the core internal medicine and pediatric programs, but also provides a focus on the unique aspects of combined training.

Call Schedule

Both the Internal Medicine Program and the Pediatrics Program are in full compliance with the ACGME 80-hour work week.

Internal Medicine

• UK Wards: No Call
• Good Samaritan: No Call
• Veterans Affairs Medical Center Wards: Q4 (with Night Float after 8 PM Sunday through Thursday)
• ICU/CCU: Q4
• Clinic/Consults/Electives: No Call

Pediatrics

• Wards: Q4
• NICU: Q4-Q5
• PICU: Night Float
• Clinic/Consults/Electives: variable (usually 1-2 calls per month as a resident)

Conferences

Morning report: Morning report is one of the most highly regarded sessions during residency training. Morning report in both medicine and pediatrics emphasizes management of specific patient presentations and problems. Included are differential diagnosis, work-up, and treatment of patients selected from our services at UK Chandler Medical Center, Kentucky Children's Hospital, Good Samaritan Hopsital, VA Medical Center, and the Kentucky Clinic. These informal sessions emphasize evidence-based medicine using the current literature, expert teaching attendings, and the residents themselves to provide critical information.

Noon conferences: The core internal medicine and pediatric topics are relayed in a variety of formats during Noon Conference. Core lectures by local experts are scheduled according to the curriculums of both the internal medicine and pediatrics departments. In addition, key topic areas on the Board exam are presented using monthly board-review style quizzes. Afterwards, experts in the given field discuss the questions and how to arrive at the correct answer. Monthly journal clubs provide a forum to discuss the latest research, its statistical meaning and its practical applications. Important information is also relayed by periodic informal jeopardy-style sessions, which always spawn some playful competition among the residents. Last, informal monthly meetings with the program director provide a format for open discussions about current issues.

Med-Peds Noon conference: Once per month, all of the med-peds residents have a separate noon conference to discuss issues unique to our program. These sessions are directed by the program director and the med-peds chief residents to discuss residency issues and other issues of concern. This is an excellent forum for discussing residency issues, board exam preparation, practice issues, etc.

Med-Peds Clinical Conference: Every Tuesday and Friday morning from 8am-9am, we have a conference to discuss issues unique to the practice of internal medicine and pediatrics. In a discussion-based format, we cover the core topics in ambulatory care, and discuss some unique cases that cross the boundaries of internal medicine and pediatrics. A new conference occurs every week, so residents have the option of attending on either day. See Clinical Conference Schedule.

Grand rounds: Grand rounds in both internal medicine and pediatrics are a platform for guest lecturers and our own attending physicians to address and inform the entire department of recent updates or of the latest advances in their field. They are on different days, so Med-Peds residents have the flexibility and the opportunity to attend both conferences. Additionally, once per quarter, both departments combine together to have a joint med-peds grand rounds on a topic important to both disciplines.

Med-Peds Journal Club: Each month, the med-peds residents get together at a resident's home or a local restaurant to socialize and also learn from some of the recent literature. Two journal articles are presented by residents each month, one emphasizing a pediatric issue and one an internal medicine issue. Articles are selected based upon their potential impact to our practice of medicine.

Med-Peds ABIM and ABP Pass Rates

Whereas the goal of our educational program is to prepare our residents to become excellent physicians in a wide variety of fields, we also emphasize the importance of Board Certification in attaining that professional distinction. We continually strive to provide the best education to our residents, and we believe this is reflected in our board pass rates. For the last three years, all of our graduating residents have taken the ABIM exam and passed the exam in their first year (we actually have a 100% pass rate for the past 5 years)! All but one of our graduates has taken the ABP exam, and only 2 have not passed on their first attempt.