Our Curriculum
Rotation Descriptions
Family Medicine
Residents are required to complete four four-week rotations as first-year residents, two rotations as second-year residents and two rotations as third-year residents. All rotations are at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital-City Centre and run by the Family Medicine attending physicians. The inpatient service is on call for the emergency room for admissions every third day and daily for any admission from our clinic. Residents are challenged with a variety of experiences ranging from birth to end-of-life. Inpatient services is responsible for management of all newborn care, including routine care, circumcisions and management of various pathologic conditions (e.g., hyperbilirubinemia, withdrawal symptoms, social issues). Residents manage patients in the ICU where they are given the opportunity to perform procedures, perform mechanical ventilation management and interact with intensivists in the ICU setting. First-year residents take short call two to three times per week until 9:00 p.m. Second-year residents take call every Friday night. Overnight call for Saturday through Thursday is taken by Night Float.
Obstetrics
Residents are required to complete two four-week rotations as first- and second-year residents. All rotations are at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital-City Centre. Faculty on the OB service consists of obstetrics and family medicine physicians. In addition, residents are given the opportunity to work closely with many private obstetricians. Residents are responsible for assessing and managing patients in OB triage, managing active labor, performing vaginal deliveries and assisting in Cesarean sections. Residents are also given the opportunity to work at the county health department to provide prenatal care to the underserved population. As first-year residents you will also work with maternal fetal medicine physicians during ultrasound clinic for high-risk patients. Call is approximately every fourth night.
Pediatrics
Residents are required to complete two four-week rotations as first-year residents on the inpatient service, one four week rotation as second-year residents in the pediatric ER, and one four-week outpatient pediatric subspecialty clinic rotation in the third year. All rotations are at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital and run by pediatric attending physicians. The children’s hospital is well known and receives patients with complex medical conditions from all areas. There are two pediatric general medicine inpatient services. Experiences on the pediatric service range from common asthma exacerbation, RSV pneumonia and rotavirus infection, to chronic medical conditions such as cystic fibrosis and metabolic disorders. Call is every sixth night, although new admissions are taken on a daily basis.
Family Medicine Continuity Clinic
The first-year residents spend one to two half-days per week in the Family Health Center for continuity experiences. Second-year residents spend three half-days per week and third-year residents spend four half-days per week in continuity clinic. The approximate number of patients seen by first, second and third-year residents are 4 to 8, 8 to 10,and 10 to 15 patients per half-day, respectively. The clinic has a procedure room, which is equipped to handle cardiac treadmill stress tests, OB ultrasound, colposcopy and flexible sigmoidoscopy. Other clinical procedures include skin biopsies, laceration repair, toenail removal, etc.
Didactics
Daily noon lectures in which evidence-based management is presented are held by our faculty and guest community physicians/specialists. Each month the inpatient service facilitates a morbidity and mortality lecture. Third-year residents work with staff pathologists to present interesting cases at clinical pathology correlation conferences. Additional lecture series of interest include practice management series with monthly lectures targeted to prepare residents for postgraduate careers. Lunch is provided at all noon conferences. In addition, Thursday afternoons are dedicated to continuing education, resident/faculty meetings and extended care visits.
Extended Care Visits
Residents are given the opportunity to follow continuity patients in a local nursing home. One afternoon per month, residents and faculty visit these continuity patients and manage both acute and chronic problems. Private home visits for patients of the Family Health Center are also done throughout the year.
Research
Residents are at liberty to choose topics that interest them. They work closely with faculty on these issues during their second and third years. Second and third-year residents have two weeks set aside per year for clinical research. Upon completion, residents present their research findings to fellow residents and faculty.
Night Float
The night float system provides night coverage for the inpatient medical service. First-year residents are teamed with third-year residents, and second-year residents provide night coverage alone. Each resident is asked to take two two-week blocks of night float. Night float begins at 9 p.m. on weekdays and 6 p.m. on weekends. The night float resident(s) provide medical services until the end of morning report the next day. Night float residents are off completely one day (24 hours) per week.
Rural Medicine
Second- or third-year residents may complete a four-week elective rotation in Hondo, Texas, a rural community west of San Antonio. Residents are responsible for both outpatient and inpatient medical management, and work closely with a private family medicine physician.