What Sets Us Apart

Saint Joseph Hospital Facilities

Saint Joseph Hospital is ranked among the top 5 percent of U.S. hospitals for overall clinical quality, according to the 8th annual HealthGrades® Hospital Quality and Clinical Excellence Study. For the sixth time, the hospital received the HealthGrades Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence™ Award, one of only 269 hospitals in the nation, 22 in Illinois, and 7 in Chicago to earn this distinction.

The Saint Joseph Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program offers inpatient training in the ideal setting for future family doctors - a community hospital with a University of Illinois College of Medicine academic affiliation. Saint Joseph is a state-of-the-art, 345-bed medical center. Approximately 2,000 babies are born here every year and 18,000 people visit the Emergency Department. There is an in-house MRI; Interventional Radiology; a 24-hour cardiac cath lab; CCU; ICU; NICU, Harborview, an Inpatient and Outpatient Substance Abuse Recovery Center, and dedicated Child Care and Psychiatric units.

The latest in diagnostic and therapeutic equipment are available around-the-clock. Residents have hands-on access to the latest technology at The Bernard Gordon Skill Lab and Education Resource Center. Resources and equipment includes:

An advanced cardiac life support lab with a computerized interactive emergency care adult mannequin (SimMan™), an automated external defibrillator, and the ability to videotape and critique in real time mock code resuscitations.
An obstetrics/gynecology/neonatal and pediatric skill lab with a birthing simulator ("NOELLETM").
A medical/surgical skill lab featuring ostomy and wound care training models, IV arms and a central line management trainer.
An invasive procedure lab that includes a lumbar puncture trainer, pediatric airway trainer, central venous cannulation simulator, chest-tube simulator and hysteroscopy trainer.
A surgical skill lab featuring laproscopic/endoscopic trainers for colonoscopy and bronchoscopy simulation.
A computer simulation lab with "Access Surgery" and "The Virtual Patient" software and an IV simulator.
A skill training room (photo below) for practicing surgical skills, such as suturing and dissection.

The Family Medicine Teaching Service

At heart, Saint Joseph Hospital is still the community hospital its founders envisioned in 1868, where Primary Care doctors still function as the quarterbacks of patient care, with a highly talented group of specialists to enlist when necessary. Our Inpatient Family Medicine Teaching Service consists entirely of members of the Department of Family Medicine. Patients are admitted, followed by, and discharged back to the care of their Family Physicians. The senior and junior residents on service are all Family Medicine residents. At many programs, Medicine is taught by Internists; however, at Saint Joseph you will learn inpatient care from the same physicians who teach you outpatient care - our own faculty who firmly believe in the family-centered approach to healing.

Dr. Wally on Medical Mission Trip to Peru with Global Health Ministries

The Department of Family Medicine

The Department is one of the oldest at Saint Joseph and has sponsored the Family Medicine Residency Program since 1972. It is an established and well-funded part of the hospital and its faculty members and residents are among the most respected at Saint Joseph and the Chicago metropolitan area.

We have an academic affiliation with The University of Illinois College of Medicine; therefore, as a resident, you will have opportunities to interact with, teach, and mentor medical students. Our rich environment of scholarship and educational teamwork will facilitate your growth and development as a family physician.

The primary goal of our program is to produce physicians who embody the unique knowledge, skills and attitudes of the specialty of Family Medicine.

Seton Family Health Center

Our Seton Family Health Center is an outpatient training experience like no other. You'll follow your own panel of families for three years. You'll deliver their babies; admit their parents to nursing homes; and if necessary assist in your patients' surgeries. When they are seriously ill, you'll admit them to Saint Joseph and round on them yourself - because no one will know these patients as well as you will. These patients will think of you as "their doctor" and they will ask for you by name when they make an appointment.

Far from a "resident clinic," Seton functions like an 18-doctor group practice whose members cover for one another on weekends and for vacations. Overseeing your outpatient training are our faculty preceptors, who offer management suggestions in the peer-based, collegial atmosphere of the Doctor's Library. Established in 1980, Seton Family Health Center remains a longstanding pillar of the Lincoln Park Community.

Dr. Goyal Medical Mission Trip, Peru 2009

Chicago Rock & Roll Half Marathon Medical Volunteers 2012

Patient Population

No other program in the Chicagoland area offers the well-rounded range of patient diversity crucial to the practice of highly competent patient care as The Saint Joseph Family Medicine Residency Program, making patient population one of our biggest strengths. Both Seton Family Health Center and Saint Joseph Hospital truly exemplify Chicago's well known, "Melting Pot" environment, serving patients from a diverse range of cultural, religious, educational, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Outstanding Pediatric Training

Strong Pediatric Training is yet another unique strength of our program. Saint Joseph Hospital's Chairman of Pediatrics, along with two additional Board Certified Pediatricians are fulltime members of our departmental faculty, offering a comprehensive pediatric expertise academically and clinically to our residency education. Family Medicine Residents are actively involved in The Small Steps Clinic, a program targeted toward the education, prevention, intervention and treatment of childhood obesity as well as The ADHD screening and treatment clinic. Additionally, our residents participate in a Pediatric Emergency Medicine Rotation at Northwestern University's Children's Memorial Hospital.

Evidenced-Based Teaching & Scholarly Activity

Our teaching comes from an evidence-based approach both in the inpatient and outpatient setting. Morning Report is not just a "sign-out" but is an interactive time for education and learning, with residents and faculty involved each morning, from both on and off the inpatient medicine service. Teaching becomes engaging and entertaining with special topic presentations, Medical Jeopardy, and of course thanks to Dr. Garcia's famous "Thursday Morning Updates" reviewing the latest in the evidence-based clinical pearls. Residents are excited to participate in our monthly outpatient Evidenced-Based Medicine Question activity at Seton Family Health Center.

Saint Joseph Hospital Resident Research Day

Resident research is strongly supported and encouraged. Residents are assisted in completing a scholarly research project, which they are then encouraged to publish and or present, with support provided for conference presentations and awards offered for Outstanding Research at the annual hospital wide Saint Joseph Hospital Resident Research Day. Our monthly Resident Research Meetings are not just a journal club, but are designed to teach physicians to critically analyze and evaluate the latest findings in medical literature. Our faculty is actively engaged in scholarship, presenting at national conferences, and preparing publications - with many of our faculty authoring chapters in the 5-Minute Clinical Consult each year.

Location, Location, Location

There are few cities in the world like Chicago, and no neighborhood quite like Lincoln Park. Tucked along Lake Michigan just north of the Loop (the downtown area), Lincoln Park represents the best of the city. Quiet residential streets lined with historic brownstones are just around the corner from some of the city's most popular restaurants, theaters, bars, and clubs.

Along the eastern edge of the neighborhood is the park itself, a stretch of bike trails, nature preserves, golf ranges, and softball fields that connect the city to its marvelous lakefront beaches.

And in the middle of it all stands Saint Joseph Hospital - serving the Lincoln Park/Lakeview community for over 135 years. Magnificent Lake Michigan and Belmont Harbor are the "front yard" of Saint Joseph Hospital. Many of our residents live within walking distance of the hospital - we are in the perfect location to take advantage of all of the shopping, dining, cultural and outdoor recreational opportunities that our great city has to offer!

Lake Front View from the Call Room Window