Program Curriculum

Outpatient experience in the continuity practice*:

• One half-day per week for first six months.
• Two half-days per week for second six months.
• 3 weeks paid vacation.

Outpatient experience in the continuity practice*:

• Three half-days per week and one Saturday morning per month.
• Geriatrics/Nursing Home rounds also on a longitudinal basis, monthly throughout the year.
• 3 weeks paid vacation and 1 week CME.

Outpatient experience in the continuity practice*:

• Four half-days per week and one Saturday morning per month.
• Geriatrics/Nursing Home rounds also on a longitudinal basis, monthly throughout the year.
• 3 weeks paid vacation and 1 week CME.

* Continuity practice site is chosen at the beginning of residency: either the Nazareth Center group practice on South Campus, or the PrimeCare Community Health Center practice on North Campus.

The Saints Mary and Elizabeth Family Medicine Residency Program is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and meets or exceeds the requirements for training in Family Medicine.  Residents and faculty participate in a joint, ongoing monthly review of our curriculum to ensure that residents are receiving high quality training experiences.

Program Instruction and Didactics

The formal instructional portion of the curriculum takes place on an ongoing basis throughout residency. The centerpiece is a series of daily didactic conferences that convenes weekdays from 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. in the Medical Center’s Residency Conference Room. These noon conferences tend to focus on ambulatory issues and practice management skills. In addition, two mornings per week, the residents on the Family Medicine Service and Critical Care rotations (including Night Float) run an Internal Medicine morning report that highlights important diagnostic and management issues in recently admitted patients, and develops clinical reasoning skills in Internal Medicine. Similarly, two mornings per week, residents on the Obstetrics and Pediatrics/Neonatology services (including Night Float) run a Maternal-Child morning report that highlights important diagnostic and management issues in recently admitted obstetrical or pediatric patients, and develops clinical reasoning skills unique to these areas. A Board Review conference is held one morning per week for all residents. Program faculty lead or moderate most morning or noon sessions, but also draw on the expertise of specialists practicing at the Medical Center, as well as a wide range of faculty from the Chicago area's seven medical schools.

In accordance with AAFP and ACGME guidelines, our curriculum also includes continuing medical education (CME) seminars with visiting medical staff. Hospital-wide CME conferences take place every Tuesday at noon. Tumor board meetings also convene during lunch twice monthly.

In addition to clinical and conference attendance responsibilities, each resident is provided with and expected to complete a monthly reading and self-assessment program (including clinical simulations in selected areas as they become available) throughout the course of their residency training. Comprised of up-to-date, evidence-based learning modules from the AAFP, ABFM, and other authoritative sources, these elements are keyed to the resident’s current rotation to ensure the timeliness and relevance of the material. This component of the residency is designed to ensure that each resident 1) becomes well-grounded in the Medical Knowledge competencies covering the breadth of Family Medicine, and 2) is guided to assume primary responsibility and a continuing commitment to their own lifelong learning process.

All residents are certified in BLS, ACLS, PALS, ALSO, and NRP throughout the course of their training.

Finally, reflecting the missions of Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center and its affiliated health centers, the program provides residents with many opportunities to serve the community outside of the scope of the traditional inpatient and outpatient medical care settings. Within the past several years, the residency program has received grant funding to establish a health center at a nearby public high school, as well as money to implement a longitudinal curriculum in Community Oriented Primary Care. We have found that these projects have increased residents' involvement in the neighborhood and encouraged them to become involved in community-based interventions.