These three facilities compose approximately 850 beds within the greater Charleston area and together they serve as the tertiary care center for all of southern West Virginia. Inpatient care is also provided at a fourth community based hospital, Thomas Memorial, a 200 bed facility at which we are the only residency program. The first year of residency, your time is spent largely at the CAMC facilities rotating on internal medicine, pediatrics, and ob/gyn services.

Exposure to Thomas Memorial Hospital (TMH) occurs during the second year where PGY-2 residents serve as the primary doctor on service for our family medicine patients, with an attending physician providing one-on-one guidance. In addition to general inpatient medicine, responsibilities at TMH include reading EKGs, performing stress tests, running codes, as well as managing CCU/ICU and pediatric patients. During this second year and continuing into the third year, decision-making skills are significantly strengthened through the autonomous management of these TMH patients as well as continuity clinic patients, including obstetrical patients.

We are proud to boast that our family medicine clinic serves over 13,000 patients a year. First year residents start with two half-days of clinic weekly and advance to four half-days of clinic per week during the second and third years. Patient encounters include these clinics as well as monthly nursing home visits to Arthur B. Hodges, a 100-bed nursing home facility located just across from our downtown office. Residents are given the option of having clinics scheduled at either the downtown Charleston office or at the Thomas Memorial Hospital office located 15 min. away in South Charleston.

Continuing education is also provided through a series of lectures and resident driven didactic sessions. These include Tuesday and Thursday morning resident conferences, and Thursday afternoon teaching sessions covering case presentations and journal reviews. Topics such as neonatal hyperbilirubinemia, management of acute MI, practical office orthopedics, dysfunctional uterine bleeding, and perioperative medical evaluation have been discussed thus far since July 1st and the list continues to grow. We have found that the process of teaching others is the greatest teacher of all and residents training within the department work side-by-side with medical students, and in fact, residents are an integral piece in mentoring and training of medical students.

Our family medicine program is truly an enriching and rewarding experience that fosters and nurtures the development of competent and caring family physicians. If you are interested in accepting the challenging offer put before you, apply to our program through ERAS. We welcome applicants from osteopathic programs. Further details can be provided by contacting our department at 1201 Washington St., East, Suite 108, Charleston, WV 25301 or by contacting our program director, Dr. Michael Johnson. We look forward to hearing from you.