Curriculum & Conferences
Our conferences are conducted in a hybrid format, with the majority of our residents in-person but with a live stream option also available to permit those in clinic or offsite the ability to participate in didactics. All conferences are recorded and uploaded to our virtual learning platform, Canvas, for future review and study. Food is provided for the majority of our primary conference series.
Intern Summer Series
Each academic year begins with an Intern Summer Series targeted to the learning needs of our interns, and as a refresher for all our residents. It focuses on basic clinical skills as well as the management of both high-yield and high-acuity complaints. Many of these talks are also great refreshers for our upper-year residents, though there is also a Resident Summer Series focused on higher-level topics.
Inpatient Academic Half Day: Tuesday & Thursdays
Beginning in September, we begin a twice-weekly Academic Half-Day (AHD) model on Tuesdays and Thursdays. AHD is a 2.5-hour period of protected time from 12:00 – 2:30 pm once weekly, divided between interns (Tuesdays) and upper-year residents (2nd and 3rd years together on Thursdays). During each AHD, both residents and interns forward their calls and pages to their senior or junior colleagues to ensure a truly protected educational experience. Overall, AHD is a 3-year, longitudinal curriculum made up of over 100 distinct sessions.
During this time, we review core clinical content in an interactive format using best practices of adult learning theory. General format:
- Hour 1: case-based and focuses on clinical reasoning skills as a generalist.
- Develop diagnostic schema for common clinical problems (e.g. “Approach to Dyspnea”).
- Hour 2: deeper dive into a disease state related to the first hour’s topic led by an expert in the area (e.g. Obstructive Airway Disease).
- Several AHDs dedicated to deeper dives and alternative formats in particular content areas (e.g. LGBTQ Health, Bioethics, Substance Use Disorders).
Noon Conference: Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Noon conferences use a variety of different formats. Our Monday/Friday series include resident-driven conferences such as intern and resident reports, resident-led morbidity and mortality conferences, board review sessions, and journal clubs. Board Review Series, Core content didactics, and skills workshops are also presented by faculty content experts also occur during this dedicated educational time. Every Wednesday, residents attend our Department of Medicine conference series which alternates between Grand Rounds, a faculty-led Clinical Pathology Conference, and a faculty-led Morbidity and Mortality conference.
Upper Year Coffee Conference
In the spring, we offer a chief led Morning Coffee Conference for our upper-year residents. This utilizes a mix of different formats including a review of cases from the floors (akin to a traditional intake “Morning Report”), deeper dives on interpretation of interesting test results, medical education topics, and additional board review. Part of the purpose of these morning sessions is to increase intern autonomy in the second half of the academic year.
Curricular Threads
Several important curricular threads, championed by faculty leaders are covered throughout our inpatient and outpatient curricular venues. These include:
- Addiction Medicine and Harm Reduction
- Board Review
- Communication
- Community Engagement
- Critical Appraisal and Lifelong Learning
- Health Systems Science: Transitions of Care, High Value Care, Population Health
- LGBTQ Health
- Point-of-Care Ultrasound
- Professional and Life Development
- Research Skills
- Wellness
- Women’s Health
Ambulatory Conferences
As outlined in the Ambulatory Experience you will have dedicated time as an academic half day structure for didactics and skill building workshops on ambulatory topics.
