Overview
The Primary Care Training Program provides an individualized training environment for every resident, allowing our residents to focus their training to their specific career goals.
Primary care residents are immersed in primary care and spend the a majority of their training in the ambulatory setting to provide time to dive deeply into issues related to primary care practice.
Primary care residents maintain continuity clinic at Harborview’s Adult Medicine Clinic, the University of Washington’s Roosevelt Primary Care Center, or the VA Puget Sound’s General Internal Medicine Clinic.
R1 year
Your intern year is focused on becoming an outstanding internist for individual patients. The goals are to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to independently manage common medical conditions, to develop personal systems of care that allow for efficient and high quality care, and to hone patient interaction skills.
Core rotations include:
- GIM Immersion Block - intern year begins with immersion block
- Mornings include didactic sessions on the management of common conditions, physical exam, practice management and patient interactions. These sessions are followed by interactive sessions including journal club, chart review, and “report.”
- Afternoons spent at your continuity clinic site building your panel.
- Ambulatory rotations - at least 4 additional ambulatory rotations
- These rotations include a mix of primary care and subspecialty medicine, as well as a longitudinal course on evidence-based medicine, and a course called Patients, Physicians and Society that explores a variety of issues related to health care delivery and policy.
- Inpatient rotations - remaining rotations include ward rotations at each of the three core teaching hospitals, ICU, cardiology, neurology, hematology/oncology and emergency medicine.
R2 year
During your R2 year, you will develop your leadership and practice management skills in the ambulatory care setting.
Core rotations include:
- Primary Care Immersion Block (early fall)
- The focus of this experience is on the doctor as a member of a care team working to optimize the health of a panel of patients. The goals are to continue to build medical knowledge and skills relevant to primary care practice, to understand how clinic processes impact quality of care, and to use data to analyze and improve care for a panel of patients.
- Each week of the immersion block will consist of didactics and project-based work diving deeply into a common ambulatory condition, such as diabetes, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive lung disease, and heart disease.
- To further develop your leadership skills, you will be trained and then have the opportunity to act as a peer clinical coach to your primary care classmates. Finally, you will work with your clinic cohort to design and implement a practice improvement/QI project.
- Ambulatory rotations - Most of the R2 year is spent in the ambulatory setting. Required ambulatory rotations are musculoskeletal medicine and geriatric medicine.
- Electives - We offer a huge number of ambulatory clinical electives as well as the opportunity to spend time on a WWAMI rotation, on an international rotation, or doing research or other scholarly work.
- Inpatient rotations - remaining rotations are spent on inpatient services including ward medicine at Harborview and the VA, CCU at the VA, and ER at Harborview.
R3 year
During your R3 year, you will explore your role as a physician in the health care system working to optimize the health of your community.
- Primary Care Immersion Block (early winter) - Majority of this block will be spent in your continuity clinic.
- The focus of this block is how you will work to optimize the health of your community. You will learn about health advocacy, policy, and diverse community health needs.
- To further develop your leadership skills, you will be trained in legislative advocacy, learn about the Washington State legislative agenda, and travel to the state capitol to educate your legislator. You will also have the opportunity to continue your work as a peer clinical coach to your primary care classmates.
- Ambulatory rotations - You will spend most of your R3 year in the ambulatory setting.
- In addition to a huge number of ambulatory clinical electives, you will also have the opportunity to spend additional time on rural or community-based primary care, in innovative primary care practice sites, on an international rotation, or doing research or other scholarly work.
- Inpatient rotations - the remaining rotations are spent on inpatient services including ward medicine at Harborview and the UW, Cardiology and MICU at Harborview.