Internal Medicine Program
The KU School of Medicine-Wichita Internal Medicine Residency program emphasizes preparation for primary care practice of internal medicine. An important goal is to develop habits and skills that ensure continuing self-education throughout the physician’s career and into an era of rapidly changing patient care techniques and knowledge.
The curriculum for first-year residents is predominantly general internal medicine. The second-year schedule includes assignments in the subspecialties, ambulatory care, and emergency room. During the third year, each resident is expected to demonstrate organizational and managerial skills as a supervising resident on a general medicine service.
Rotations for first-year residents are prepared in advance. Schedules for the second and third years are designed with resident preference to the greatest possible extent and with careful consideration of individual needs for optimal education and responsibility.
Assignments to general medicine services are available at each of the three teaching hospitals: Wesley Medical Center, Via Christi Regional Medical Center – St. Francis campus, and the VA Medical Center. The 15-to-25 patients on these services are cared for by the following personnel: one or two medical students; two or three first-year residents responsible for primary care; one or two senior residents providing consultation, supervision and direction; and a full-time faculty member. On some subspecialty services, attending physicians are grouped to emphasize a single subspecialty for rotations of two months. Ambulatory care experience with full-time faculty supervision is designed to provide continuity of care for the residents’ patients. Regular outpatient responsibilities occur weekly throughout the training period or more often according to the needs of the patients.
Extensive conference schedules in each hospital provide updated review and presentation of general medicine, primary care, and subspecialty information as well as useful material from other disciplines. Therefore, well-balanced opportunities for didactic instruction and bedside learning are available to all trainees. Residents will assume responsibility for utilizing and participating in these activities for their own education and for students and junior residents under their supervision.
Evaluation of clinical competence occurs at regular intervals throughout the program so that admission to the certifying examination of the American Board of Internal Medicine can be recommended at the end of the third year. Residents develop close working relationships with the full-time and volunteer faculty. Since advanced training at the fellowship level is not offered within our program, opportunities for resident learning and responsibility are plentiful at the bedside and in the classroom. Thus, residents receive considerable experience and instruction in patient care, including procedures useful to and expected of well-trained general internists. Residents interested in subspecialty fellowships are assisted in obtaining pertinent information and subsequent admission elsewhere. Our resident graduates have been highly successful in applying to competitive fellowship programs throughout the country.
