Southeast Michigan

Curriculum

We continuously evaluate our curriculum to ensure a high-quality educational experience that satisfies the current and future needs of our residents. Our curriculum is meticulously crafted to offer an optimal balance of ambulatory, inpatient, generalist, and specialty rotations. Opportunities for modification are driven by the needs of our residents, the dynamic evolution of the healthcare system, and the changing mandates of residency review committees and accrediting boards.

Didactics

Med-Peds physicians are distinguished by their eligibility for full board certification, comparable to that of internists and pediatricians. To optimally prepare our graduates for dual certification, our residents are expected to engage comprehensively in both specialties. During a pediatrics rotation, residents are required to participate in all didactic activities of the pediatric department, and similarly, during an internal medicine rotation, they attend all relevant internal medicine educational programs.

Didactics on the Internal Medicine service are scheduled daily from Monday to Friday, between 11:30 AM and 1:00 PM. During this period, the didactic program encompasses case discussions facilitated by chief residents and topic reviews conducted by designated faculty members. Additionally, Grand Rounds are held every Wednesday, featuring presentations by our faculty and invited guest speakers.

Didactics associated with the Pediatrics service are conducted weekly on Thursdays from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. These sessions comprise topic discussions led by invited faculty, a series of board review questions, a journal club, and simulation exercises in our state-of-the-art simulation laboratories.  

Med-Peds residents additionally convene twice weekly in the afternoon for dedicated Med-Peds educational sessions. During these gatherings, residents address topics specific to Med-Peds, such as transition of care, enhance procedural skills, and deliberate on significant non-clinical facets of the medical profession, including financial literacy.

Schedule integration

A distinctive feature of our program is that, during the internship, the service transition follows a 1-1-2-2-3-3 month changeover schedule. For example:

  • July - Pediatrics
  • August - Internal Medicine
  • September and October - Pediatrics
  • November and December - Internal Medicine
  • January, February, March - Pediatrics
  • April, May, June - Internal Medicine

The frequent rotations during the initial six months facilitate the new residents’ early familiarization with both medicine and pediatrics. Furthermore, these rotations enable the residents to establish recognition among their internal medicine and pediatrics colleagues, thereby fostering an early sense of integration within both programs.  

Following the initial six months of internship, rotations between services are scheduled every three months for the duration of the residency. 

Rotation schedule

Medicine

Year 1

  • 3 General Medicine Floor months
  • 1 MICU month
  • 1 Geriatrics month
  • 1 unique clinic block that includes outpatient Rheumatology, Neurology, Immunology, and procedural clinics

Year 2

  • 2 General Medicine Floor month  
  • 1 Cardiology Consult month
  • 1 Emergency Medicine month
  • 1 Acute Care Clinic month
  • 1 Private Practice Med-Peds Clinic month 

Year 3

  • 1 General Medicine Floor month
  • 1 CCU month
  • 1 MICU month
  • 2 Subspecialty months
  • 1 Research month  

Year 4

  • 1 General Medicine Floor month
  • 1 Discharge Transition Clinic month  
  • 1 Acute Care Clinic month
  • 3 Subspecialty months 

Pediatrics

Year 1

  • 2 Pediatric Floor months
  • 1 Newborn month
  • 1 Developmental Pediatrics month
  • 1 Pediatric Acute Care Clinic month  
  • 1 Pediatric Subspecialty month 

Year 2

  • 2 Pediatric Floor months
  • 1 PICU month
  • 1 Inpatient Pediatric Hematology / Oncology month  
  • 1 Health Care Disparity month  
  • 1 NICU month 

Year 3

  • 1 Pediatric Floor month
  • 1 Pediatric Emergency Medicine month
  • 1 Adolescent Medicine month  
  • 1 Pediatric Subspecialty month
  • 2 Individualized Curriculum Month

Year 4

  • 1 Pediatric Floor month
  • 1 Pediatric Emergency Medicine month
  • 1 Pediatric Acute Care Clinic Month
  • 2 Pediatric Subspecialty months
  • 1 Individualized Curriculum Month 

Continuity clinics

Medicine/pediatric residents maintain ongoing combined med/peds continuity clinics throughout all four years. During each clinic session, residents engage with a diverse patient population, encompassing both adult and pediatric individuals. Such a combined clinic represents an optimal educational environment, affording residents the opportunity to manage entire families and to observe both children and adults in a single location on the same day. A team of attending physicians, comprising internal medicine, pediatrics, and medicine/pediatric specialists, collaborate with residents as educators, supervisors, and mentors. These med/peds continuity clinics are systematically designed to foster an excellent learning environment for mastering the principles of internal medicine and pediatrics, as well as developing the skills necessary to deliver care that is evidence-based, patient-centered, and cost-effective.