The following table is an example of our conference schedule for each four-week block:.
IM Lecture Series The IM Lecture Series is a rotating three-year conference curriculum for internal medicine and its subspecialties. Since internal medicine covers much ground, choosing the content can be difficult. Each year the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) publishes a blueprint of the content in its certifying exam – the one you will have to take at the end of your training. The ABIM does not tell you what will be on the exam – that would be too easy! Instead, the ABIM calculates percentages for each topic that comprise the exam. We have chosen to divide the content of our IM Lecture Series to match the core content in the ABIM Certifying Exam. Included in the lecture series is a hospitalist lecture series that covers the core competencies defined by the Society of Hospitalist Medicine. Both clinical and systems-based competencies comprise what the Society believes are essential for an internal medicine hospitalist. Teaching Conference These conferences are case-based teaching sessions. The first 15 minutes of each session begins with a teaching “pearl” or "quiz-question" designed to help with both knowledge acquisition and test-taking skills. Following the pearl, a resident presents an active case from their service as an unknown to teams from the other internal medicine services. Each step of the way through the patient’s hospital course becomes a chance for the other residents to express and learn how they might have evaluated and managed the patient. In each session, we present one or two active cases in this manner, and if applicable, bring the patient into the lecture room for examination. Residency is experiential learning – the best learning comes when you are managing the patient. Vicarious management via case-based teaching is the next best way to learn. M&M Conference Can we do things better? As professionals, the answer is always “yes”. When we have cases on the service that provided valuable lessons for all of us, we present them in a formal M&M conference. A resident presents the case summary and then a faculty member discusses the case. We invite guest clinical faculty who may have additional points to teach to also be present. We invite guest clinical faculty who many have additional points to also be present. ECG Conference We have developed a unique, structured approach to learning ECGs. Both our medical student and residents believe this has helped them read ECGs. We continually reinforce the salient points of the system by reading ECGs presented as unknowns in this conference. Journal Club Faculty present brief summaries of key articles from recent literature. The discussions involve not only the results of the study and their potential impact on our practice but also lessons in common-sense clinical epidemiology. The goal is to not only know the key recent literature but also to be facile in interpreting the quality, validity and generalizabilty of the studies. Several weeks before the conference, we put links to the PDF versions of the assigned articles on our Residency Blog to make it easier to access the articles. Board Review Your entire residency experience will prepare you for the clinical vignettes that are the basis of the ABIM Certifying Exam questions. However, it is never too early to learn to how to read and analyze questions with a single, correct multiple choice answer – the way the ABIM structures its exam. The purpose of this conference is to not only expose you to the information and the types of questions you will face on standardized internal medicine exams but also to teach you techniques of going about answering those questions correctly and quickly. Osler’s Rounds The conference fulfills several purposes. It is a clinical pathological correlation conference. It is a required research conference for our R3 residents. Each third- year resident presents a clinical summary of an unusual problem that they have seen on service. Pathologists discuss their findings from the materials from the case. The resident then presents a summary of their review of the literature regarding the clinical problem, its evaluation and management. Finally, guest subspecialists may provide their input into the subject. Departmental Conferences Residents may also attend departmental teaching conferences. Grand Rounds The second year residents research and develop a topic for presentation to the entire group. They choose topics for a list that is developed from the core lecture curriculum. |
Conferences |