ramonaquimby said:
- i know it uses a different model than most FP progarms (i think). they have a regular 'practice' model, there are no 'blocks' during the last two years. this sounds very confusing to me, but it seems to work since board pass rate is consistently 100% (wow!)
- there is no "resident clinic" - all patients are upr middle class 'regular' patients with insurance. this is unusual for an urban/suburban FP program on the east coast (i think)
that's all i know
I'm an R2 at this program and that's the best brief summary I've seen of how our program is set up. Intern year is front-loaded with all the inpatient rotations: medicine, ICU, surgery, pediatrics, OB, ER. Then 2d and 3d year is mainly outpatient: we have varied responsibilities, including required and elective rotations (e.g. ENT, ortho, ophtho, derm), in the mornings but are in our own clinic in the afternoon. As we see patients they become "ours." After just a few months I've got a pretty good-sized panel of patients who see me regularly.
We still have hospital responsibilities: we admit to two local hospitals (one large teaching hospital, Inova Fairfax, and the other a small community hospital, Inova Fair Oaks) and there is a resident assigned to each hospital service for one week at a time. We have OB continuity patients and we also cover the newborn service for uninsured patients. (as interns, we delivered these babies... their moms get prenatal/delivery/postpartum care from OB residents at Inova Fairfax) We also have nursing home patients - not only do we see them regularly, but questions from staff about management between visits come to us, not the medical director.
Some of the 2d and 3d year "blocks" I've seen listed for other FP programs are covered during our intensive intern year where we're doing almost all inpatient care. Some "blocks" are covered by going to specialty clinics in the morning. And some are covered by the wide variety of patients we see in our own clinic. The practice keeps track of the coding from visits and is able to show that we clock plenty of time in big specialties like cardio (how many patients might an FP see in one day for hypertension?? or ongoing management of A-fib?) or endo (same question, diabetes).
One of the things that sold me on this program was its reputation for preparing you well for "real" practice. You are expected to be THE doctor for the patients you see - you order the labs & scans, you follow up with the patient and consult the specialists, you see everything through. By being in clinic just about every day this is so much more possible (still challenging!). Working alongside attendings every day, I've learned a lot, not just about patient care but about time management, coding, practice management - practical stuff that I know will help a lot. Recent program graduates have told us that they felt very well prepared to step into their new roles as attendings and were able to cope with the workload. I've been seeing 8 patients per patient care session (that is, a morning or afternoon) since my third month as an R2 and will be stepping that up to 9 or 10 patients in the near future. So obviously expectations are high and you will work very hard, but I can already appreciate that yes, I will feel very well prepared when I graduate.
Hope that helps, PM me w/ more questions.
