Our residents have the opportunity to participate in their own med-peds curriculum, as well as the variety of educational experiences that each categorical department offers.
Resident Education Day (REDD): Med-peds residents have dedicated and protected time during the second Wednesday of every block. During these sessions, residents learn from our med-peds-specific ambulatory and learning-to-teach curriculums. Med-peds house staff meetings, board reviews, journal clubs, and musculoskeletal workshops led by our med-peds sports medicine faculty also take place during this time.
Individualized Learning Plans (ILP): ILPs foster a commitment to lifelong learning and incorporate board exam preparation with career preparation. Residents work with their academic advisor and the program director to develop and execute their personalized study plan. ILPs are refined throughout the course of residency, with the goal of successfully passing the board exams and adopting a reliable learning style that will last an entire career.
Structured Clinical Observations (SCOs): Residents undergo frequent in-person evaluation of their clinical and communication skills during ambulatory encounters, using either in-room or one-way mirror observations. Additionally, one REDD session per year is dedicated to using the Patient Safety and Clinical Competency Center (PSCCC) to evaluate clinical and procedural skills.
The categorical programs in internal medicine and pediatrics also follow a standard curriculum that our residents participate in while on service. Some examples of these include:
Internal Medicine:
- Morning report, journal club, grand rounds, morbidity and mortality, and weekly conferences on ethics and quality improvement.
- Periodic hand-on sessions in the Patient Safety and Clinical Competency Center during which internal medicine and med-peds residents learn to be comfortable performing common in-hospital procedures, including peripheral and central line placement, suturing, ultrasound, and running a code.
- Weekly Team-Based Learning (TBL) interactive sessions that, over a two-year time span, cover all topics that will be encountered on the internal medicine boards.
Pediatrics:
- Morning reports, noon conferences, and grand rounds led by our pediatric faculty.
- Bread and butter, case management, morbidity and mortality, and joint OBGYN-NICU conferences led by our pediatric and me-peds residents.
- Periodic hands-on sessions in the Patient Safety and Clinical Competency Center, the home of our pediatric ultrasound, mock code simulation, and NICU boot camp curriculums, as well as training in a myriad of other topics.
- PedSTAR (Scholarly Track for Advocacy and Research) Block is a pediatric-specific, four-week intensive experience during which interns receive in depth and immersive training related to advocacy and research. By the end of the block, me-peds interns will have the tools to complete either a longitudinal advocacy or research project by the end of their four years.
PCMH: Patient Centered Medical Home (“clinic block”)
STAR: Scholarly Track for Advocacy and Research
PGY-1
Medicine:
Wards/Nights – 2 Blocks
NICU – 1 Block
Newborn Nursery & General Outpatient Peds – 1 Block
Newborn Nursery & Urgent Care Peds – 1 Block
STAR – 1 Block
Pediatrics:
Wards/Nights – 3 Blocks
MICU – 1 Block
Elective – 2 Blocks
ED – 1 Block
PGY-2
Medicine:
Wards – 2 Blocks
CCU – 1 Block
Elective – 2 Blocks
PCMH – 1 Block
Pediatrics:
Wards – 2 Blocks
PICU – 1 Block
Developmental Pediatrics – 1 Block
Elective – 2 Blocks
ED – 1 Block
PGY-3
Medicine:
Wards – 2 Blocks
MICU – 1 Block
Neurology – 1 Block
Elective – 3 Blocks
Pediatrics:
Wards/Nights – 2 Blocks
NICU – 1 Block
Elective – 3 Blocks
PCMH – 1 Block
PGY-4
Medicine:
Wards – 1 Block
CCU – 1 Block
Elective – 2 Blocks
Geriatrics – 1 Block
PCMH – 1 Block
Pediatrics:
Wards – 1 Block
Individualized Months – 1 Block
Elective – 3 Blocks
Adolescent Medicine – 1 Block
Albany Medical Center Internal Medicine & Pediatrics Office
Our ambulatory office is located in Cohoes, about 10 miles north of Albany. Staffed by our med-peds faculty, it is a Patient Centered Medical Home for over 12,000 patients, and a home away from home for our residents, who develop and maintain their own panel of patients, including those who they care for during their inpatient, newborn nursery, and Emergency Department rotations. Interns attend one continuity clinic session per week, while residents attend two sessions per week. The PCMH residency practice has a dedicated nurse and administrative support staff to help with day-to-day patient coordination, as well as support from registered nurses who provide case management for complex patients, lactation counseling, and diabetes management. Sports medicine, adult and pediatric behavioral health, cardiology, and access to echocardiography are also available in this office.
The Bernard & Miller Duker Children’s Hospital
A children’s hospital within a hospital, the Bernard & Millie Duker Children’s Hospital has more than 140 physicians trained in 40 subspecialties who are involved in both clinical and basic science research. With 125 beds, it sees over 5,000 admissions each year, including 1,500 PICU and 800 NICU admissions annually. It is also a state and nationally-recognized Accredited Cystic Fibrosis Center, Sickle Cell & Hemoglobinopathy Treatment Center, Genetic & Metabolism Treatment Center, and Lead-Poisoning and Environmental Health Resource Center. Our state-of-the-art NICU and PICU, Child Cancer Program, Pediatric AIDS Program, and Congenital Heart Disease Program are the only ones of their kind in the region. Together, the children’s hospital faculty and residents care for 100,000 outpatient visits annually. In addition, The Massry Family Children’s Emergency Center, the only pediatric emergency department in northeastern New York and western New England, provides emergency care exclusively to children and teenagers.
Albany Medical Center
Albany Medical Center is the primary site for all inpatient rotations in medicine. The Department of Medicine has over 70 full-time faculty members. The general internists schedule more than 11,500 annual outpatient visits and maintain busy inpatient and consult services, while subspecialists receive over 37,500 outpatient referrals annually, in addition to providing an extensive range of hospital consult services. The department maintains the region’s only comprehensive hemophilia program and bone marrow transplantation program. Residents serve on the general medicine floors, cardiac and medical intensive care units, and the hematology/oncology unit during their inpatient rotations. They also gain exposure to both inpatient and outpatient management of patients through rotations in all of the subspecialties.
Albany Stratton VA Medical Center
The Veterans Affairs Medical Center for the Albany region is located across the street from Albany Medical Center, and the medicine faculties from both institutions often collaborate on clinical and research activities. Residents have the opportunity to rotate through inpatient and ICU services, as well as subspecialties such as hematology/oncology, rheumatology, neurology, and infectious disease, and we've found that the resident experience is greatly enriched by exposure to the veteran population and their spectrum of diseases.
We believe that wellness starts with the program design. The most important patient that any resident cares for is the one in the mirror. Wellness encompasses many different aspects of life and comes in all shapes and sizes. Our curriculum is built around wellness: peer mentoring (wellness groups), team building, fitness, mindfulness, resiliency, financial wellness, meditation, spirituality, and much more!
We also participate in other wellness initiatives including the Student Wellness Committee pioneered by the Albany Medical College Graduate Medical Education Council as well as initiatives led by the Pediatrics Department and Division of Internal Medicine.
Maintaining “resident wellness” and a healthy work-life balance is important to our me-peds program. Even though work can be busy, our residents and faculty frequently find time to relax, have fun, and simply enjoy life outside of work. The Capital Region is a great place to explore!