Unlike many other large, medical school affiliated teaching hospitals of its caliber, CAMC has several features that most other tertiary care centers lack. We are the 5th most active cardiac center in the country. We are the only tertiary care facility in a 30 to 100 mile radius.
This results in our having the busiest medical helicopter in the nation. Most large urban centers have more than one tertiary care center with varying areas of excellence, which results in certain types of patients and medical problems being shunted to the most appropriate nearby tertiary care center, depriving residents at the other tertiary care centers experience with those types of problems. CAMC gets >90% of all tertiary care patients from a population of roughly 1 million. Our residents get to see lots of "1 in a million cases". Additionally, because we have a large, medically underserved population with a high incidence of poor health habits, we see lots of extreme pathology usually reserved for the 3rd world. On the other hand, being rural, we have fewer urban problems such as AIDS and overdoses, treating several a month rather than several a day while on a teaching service. Our residents see enough varied pathology to be adequately educated without being overwhelmed.
Our program is designed to meet all the requirements for combined IM/Peds residency programs while being as gentle and supportive as possible to the residents. You can refer to our web site to view a sample rotation schedule. The rigor imposed by dual training is sufficient in and of itself, so all ancillary support available, i.e. social services, IV therapy, phlebotomy, etc., are used to advantage by our residents. Furthermore, in order to maintain the educational nature and avoid overly burdensome service obligations, our residents are protected by limitations to work hours and admission numbers. We are supportive of residents requiring maternity/paternity leave or other similar special arrangements.
Our Med/Peds residents are a cohesive and collegial group meeting regularly for formal meetings with the program director and Med/Peds faculty, as well as informally for journal clubs and joint sessions with the Med/Peds student interest group. Residents are also formally evaluated twice each year by the directors of IM and Peds individually. There are annual inservice exams used to evaluate appropriate progress in both disciplines, but these are not used as prerequisites for graduation. Research activities are encouraged and supported. There are daily educational conferences in both IM and Peds which residents are expected to attend as much as possible. Residents are required to give presentations occasionally on topics of their choosing. Generally this occurs 3 to 4 times during the 4 year program.
We currently accept two PGY-1 residents each year. This is facilitated through the U.S. residency match program in conjunction with ERAS.
Applications are accepted through the AAMC Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) only.
Family Medicine
