Program Information

Residents in the UMDNJ/RWJMS Internal Medicine Training Program at Cooper University Hospital are members of an academic medical center in which there is a commitment to learning medicine as science not as facts, while providing the highest quality medical care to a diverse patient population in Southern New Jersey. The medical residency program currently consists of 54 residents. There are 24 PGY-1 positions: 6 of these are preliminary, for residents planning on entering other fields, and 18 are three-year positions, of which 2 are for primary care track residents.

Sample Rotation Schedules

Teaching

At Cooper, we are committed to education and the highest quality patient care. Our program features:

• A chief of medicine, deputy chair for education and research, and program director who are known nationally for research, clinical skills and commitment to teaching.
• More than 150 accessible full-time faculty members dedicated to teaching and patient care.
• Year-round didactic conferences are based on the science, art and business of medicine.
• Daily bedside teaching rounds.
• An Evidence-Based Medicine initiative in which senior residents develop and hone their skills in real-time bedside EBM.
• A board review course for senior residents to prepare for certification by the American Board of Internal Medicine.
• Professionalism, leadership, humanism, end of life care and medical ethics are also included in teaching curriculum.

Medicine Floor Rotation

This is the rotation where our residents learn the core of the inpatient educational program of our residency. The resident and intern work as a team in the care of the hospitalized medical patient under the supervision of a hospitalist.

• The medical services run as a “firm” system, in which longitudinal patient care is emphasized. Firms are geographically based to maximize efficiency.
• Each firm consists of one intern, one resident, and several medical students, supervised by a hospitalist.
• There are several non-resident firms to ensure that the house staff do not go above patient caps. These firms are staffed by hospitalists only.
• We believe that best way to learn medicine is at the bedside. Daily bedside teaching rounds are led by the senior resident on the team.
• There is an in-house moonlighter who covers the non-resident service patients in the evenings and on nights and weekends.

Medical Admitting Team

This rotation helps house staff to learn triage and administrative skills. The team consists of a Medical Admitting Resident (MAR) and a Medical Admitting Hospitalist (MAH) during the daytime and an MAR and a Medical Admitting Intern (MAI) at night with a medicine attending on call. Responsibilities include:

• Admitting patients from the ED and direct admissions
• Being part of the Code Team – the MAR is the Code Leader

Intensive Care Unit Experience

Cooper University Hospital has a new, state of the art 30 bed Medical/Surgical ICU in our new pavilion. The ICU is staffed by nationally and internationally known board-certified intensivists. The Cooper ICU is a tertiary referral center for the entire South Jersey region, leading to a very complex and diverse patient population in the ICU. Medicine residents work together with ED, Surgery and Anesthesia residents along with an ICU fellow.

Cardiology Experience

There is a 12 bed Coronary Care Unit (CCU) and a 36 bed Cardiology Step Down unit with telemetry (Progressive Care Unit – PCU). For residents, the CCU rotation is combined with the PCU rotation to provide longitudinal care. Under the leadership of Dr. Parrillo and Dr. Hollenberg, the Cooper Heart Institute has undergone tremendous growth in last 6 years. We have nationally known cardiologists on faculty, state of the art technologies and the most advanced treatment options, providing an excellent cardiology experience to medicine house staff.

Ambulatory Experience

Ambulatory care experience for Categorical residents is provided in numerous elective opportunities and at several primary care offices. All medical house officers have a weekly half-day continuity care experience, with additional primary care blocks throughout the three years. Further ambulatory experience is available in outpatient block electives at the Camden County Sexually Transmitted Disease, HIV & TB Clinics, and in the Adolescent Medicine and subspecialty outpatient offices. We also participate in the web-based Johns Hopkins ambulatory care curriculum.

Night Float

We have a night float system for the floors, the CCU and the ICU. Our system allows our house officers to have uninterrupted sleep at home during most nights throughout the year. Well-rested house officers are more likely to feel positive about coming to work, to be enthusiastic about their next admission and to stay awake in conferences. House officers on night float are evaluated by our innovative and nationally recognized night float portfolio system. At the end of each shift, the night float team meets with Dr. Rajput to discuss any interesting cases they saw overnight.

Electives

Electives are offered in a wide variety of subspecialties in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Moreover, our residents actively participate in development of new electives.

Here is a partial list of electives currently offered:

CLICK HERE to view and print the complete Internal Medicine residency brochure

Contact Information

Director: Vijay Rajput, M.D., FACP
Associate Program Directors: Elizabeth Cerceo, M.D., FACP, Andres Ferber, M.D., Brian Gable, M.D.,
Anna Headly, M.D., MFA, Antoinette Spevetz, M.D., FCCM, FACP
Contact: Medical Education Office
Phone:856 -757 - 7842
Fax: 856 - 968- 9587
Email: IMresidency@cooperhealth.edu
Address: Cooper University Hospital, UMDNJ– Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Camden,
401 Haddon Avenue, E&R Building, 3rd Floor, Camden, NJ 08103