Educational Conferences

Over the last five years we have enjoyed a 92 percent board pass rate. Our daily board review is taught by our Program Director, Dr. Brian Gable. Each month, a separate subspecialty is selected for discussion and study. During these interactive sessions, ABIM style questions are used to stimulate discussion of all pertinent aspects of a particular topic. This includes pathophysiology, epidemiology, clinical manifestations, diagnostic approach, prognosis and evidence-based management of relevant disease processes. Advanced organizers, photographs, diagrams and other multimedia (videos, audio of heart sounds/breath sounds) are utilized to enhance the learning process. In addition, each session is recorded and immediately made available to the residents through an electronic medium that can be accessed remotely via smart phone or webcast to be viewed at the residents’ convenience.

As part of our devotion to medical education the faculty and housestaff have jointly created a plethora of didactic activities to create well-rounded Internists (please refer to the schedule for further details).

These sessions occur two to three times per week. During these active discussions, case presentations are conducted by residents currently rotating on the medical teaching service and the discussion is facilitated by program leadership. Objectives of these sessions include data gathering, creation of an accurate problem representation, hypothesis generation, and the activation and comparison of illness scripts to develop a working diagnosis. In addition, relevant aspects of the evidence-based physical examination and pathophysiology are reviewed, as are a proficient diagnostic strategy and evidence-based management plan.

These sessions are facilitated by the Chairman of Medicine, the Division Head of Medical Education and a rotating subspecialist who is an expert in that week’s topic. This dynamic session is presented in a case-based format by a senior resident, who is assigned in advance to research that particular disease process.

Given bimonthly by regional and national experts, these sessions focus on the latest advances in all disciplines of medicine. Topics range from general medicine and its subspecialties to humanities and cultural competencies.

• Journal Club
• Art of Medicine
• Evidence-Based Physical Diagnosis
• Business of Medicine
• History of Medicine
• Resident Wellness
• Interdisciplinary Conference
• Primary Care Lecture Series
• Cardiology Lecture Series

The lecture series is run by the cardiology faculty every 3rd Thursday of the month. A list of top of topics, high yield on the boards is generated and a new topic is discussed every month.

In order to develop life-long learners, our program has instituted a revolutionary journal club series. This conference is facilitated by members of the program leadership. Residents learn how to read and evaluate the literature in a systematic format. In addition, relevant aspects of study design and statistical principles are reviewed.

Led by members of our Division of Hospital Medicine, this series was developed to address the practical components of medicine as an industry. Examples of devoted topics include: coding and billing, health care reform, hospital systems, and negotiating a contract.

In an age of medical technology, it is as important as ever to master the art of bedside diagnosis. Drs. Ritesh Patel and Brian Gable have created a series of practical and educational activities to bring our residents back to the bedside. These sessions include didactic sessions about the evidence behind physical examination. The residents are formally trained in the performance of maneuvers and their positive predictive values and likelihood ratios. This knowledge is then applied on weekly bedside evidence-based physical diagnosis rounds. During these rounds, members from our medical teaching service perform key physical diagnosis maneuvers under the tutelage of our faculty.