Internal Medicine Residency Curriculum
- 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
- Nephrology Cases
In 2025, our program achieved a remarkable 97% board pass rate. Over the past five years, we have enjoyed a first-time board pass rate of 88%. Our daily board review is taught by 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.
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.
All third-year residents are required to partake in subspecialty rounds which provides an opportunity to present a topic at noon conference in a subspeciality area such as cardiology, pulmonology, nephrology, addiction medicine, palliative care, etc. What makes this noon conference unique, is having the presence of a faculty member within that subspeciality to help enrich the discussion of the topic at hand. Preparation for the conference involves collaborating with the subspeciality attending to guide the content of the lecture, including relevant journal articles and following a set of general guidelines for a content-rich presentation.
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.
Our internal medicine residency program holds journal club at least once monthly which takes place during noon conference. The presenting resident selects a recently published journal article from a top tier journal to present. What sets our journal club apart is that the presenting resident is able to meet with Cooper's Chief of Medicine Dr. Stephen Trzeciak, author of over 100 peer review journal articles including three in the New England Journal of Medicine, to discuss the merits and drawbacks of the article. Both the resident and Dr. Trzeciak present the article together in a collaborative effort at noon conference.
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.
Cooper Internal Medicine Residents regularly use the Simulation Lab located in the Joint Health Sciences Building. This includes simulated medical emergencies, complex medical cases led by senior residents during didactic sessions of Ambulatory weeks, practice using ultrasound on standardized patients, and the use of Harvey, an advanced simulation mannequin to improve knowledge of cardiac murmurs. Repetition, when combined with formative teaching and feedback, leads to sustained improvements in the knowledge, skills and attitudes of our residents that further enhance patient care, communication skills, and systems-based practice throughout the hospital.
Our Addiction medicine elective adds a unique experience to training at Cooper University Hospital. Unlike other electives, this elective is an integral part of our curriculum that is built into all resident schedules. Working in Camden, NJ exposes us to an underserved population, where substance use disorders are prevalent. The Addiction Medicine elective at Cooper allows us to delve further into the pathophysiology behind these addictions, the various options for treatment, and—equally important—the social barriers that can alter what treatment options are appropriate for each patient. We work alongside expert faculty trained in addiction medicine, Fellows, pharmacists, APPs and Social Workers. As medical students and residents, our addiction medicine training allows us to become more knowledgeable and empathetic physicians towards these types of patients. This acts as an early exposure for residents interested in a professional career in Addiction Medicine.
Our palliative medicine elective is also an integral part of our curriculum. We work with palliative medicine faculty and social workers and split the time in the outpatient and inpatient setting. Residents learn the principles of pain and symptom management, how to conduct family meetings and what the various entities of hospice include. Our palliative medicine department collaborates closely with our providers affiliated with MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper.
The ABC News Medical Media resident elective is a program designed to develop communication skills during a 4-week medical journalism rotation at ABC News headquarters in New York City. During this elective, residents participate in journal study reviews, writing articles, and pitch stories. Residents will also gain competency for writing medical journalism, learn elements of a successful “pitch”, develop skills for interfacing with media, and improve the ability to critically analyze and summarize medical journal articles, among many others.
This elective is offered to second and third year residents and is offered in one- or two-week blocks. It allows residents to work closely with the Faculty and Fellows in Interventional Pulmonology. Our residents are able to watch and participate in endobronchial ultrasounds & biopsies of pulmonary nodules, percutaneous tracheostomies, bronchoscopies and thoracenteses. This is an early experience for residents interested in pursuing a career in Pulmonary and critical care medicine to provide a well-rounded Internal medicine training by the end of residency.
This elective is offered to all residents and is run by our two Infectious Disease Pharmacists and Infectious disease Attendings. In this elective, we learn about the different antimicrobials and how to optimally use them to prevent antimicrobial misuse in the hospital.