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University School of Medicinef Internal Medicine. The Department of Internal Medicine in Las Vegas runs an accredited three year program in Internal Medicine. Through our affiliation with University Medical Center, we believe we have superb setting to learn the practice of Internal Medicine.

The Department of Internal Medicine, in Las Vegas, is responsible for the training of approximately 45 Internal Medicine residents in a three-year categorical program. The program is affiliated with University Medical Center (UMC) and offers a comprehensive mix of inpatient and ambulatory teaching experiences. The department's goal is to ensure that each resident possesses the knowledge, skills and attitude of a highly qualified physician and is competent to perform as an independent practitioner of Internal Medicine.

Curriculum

Patient-based and didactic elements form the foundation of a curriculum that supports a diverse inpatient and ambulatory-care experience.

Didactic teaching is an integral part of any Internal Medicine experience, and is an important part of our program. It consists of a daily morning report and noon conference. At morning report, the second year and third year residents are responsible for presenting recently admitted patients. They then facilitate discussion of the differential diagnosis and management issues and present recently-published salient literature. The daily noon conferences provide a diverse educational experience, dealing with the major topics in general internal medicine, adolescent medicine, gender-specific medical issues, pain management, and end-of-life issues. We also include a monthly morbidity and mortality conference as well as journal club. In addition, the attending physicians on the inpatient wards and outpatient rotations are responsible for incorporating didactic teaching into their daily rounds.

The practice of Internal Medicine is changing with more emphasis on Ambulatory Care. At the same time, the "hospitalist" movement is becoming very popular. We feel our program adequately provides sufficient exposure to both avenues of practice so that our trainees feel comfortable entering either arena upon completion of their residency training.

We are very proud of the patient-based educational experience at the University of Nevada School of Medicine. Through our affiliation with University Medical Center (UMC), we feel we provide our residents with invaluable exposure to a variety of clinical problems from a diverse patient population.

Internship

Internship consists of five or six months of General Internal Medicine wards, plus one month each of ICU, CCU, and Emergency Medicine. In addition, there is one month of Ambulatory Medicine and one elective month. The preliminary residents follow the same curriculum as the categorical interns except they may elect to substitute another elective for the Ambulatory month.

Second Year

The second year of residency incorporates approximately four months of subspecialty rotations and electives, and also includes one month each of Hematology/Oncology and nightfloat. In addition, the second year resident begins to function in a more supervisory role, acting as team leader on both general wards (four months) and in the units (one month each).

Third Year

The third year is composed of two months on the General Wards, one month each of ICU and CCU, one month of nightfloat plus one month each of Emergency Medicine, Ambulatory Medicine and Women's Health. The remaining months consist of more subspecialty rotations and electives.

Ambulatory

Our Ambulatory rotations and consult months compliment the invaluable inpatient experiences. We provide the full compliment of medical subspecialty consult rotations and also provide exposure to Geriatrics, Adolescent Medicine, Medical Ophthalmology, Orthopedics, Otorhinolaryngology, Psychiatry, and Dermatology. Residents also obtain experience in our on-site Neurology/Neuroscience Program, including the Alzheimer's Clinic and the Center for Neuromuscular Diseases.

Lastly, the Outpatient Continuity Clinic is an important experience for the resident in training. It is organized in a manner we feel provides the resident with a broad exposure to ambulatory care. Residents have a continuity experience (one half-day per week) at our affiliated hospital for all three years of their training. This provides the resident the opportunity to follow patients they recently discharged from the hospital. They act as liaisons between the hospital and the Ambulatory setting, and gain valuable experience in longitudinal care. In addition, a second half-day clinic has been added for the third-year residents at the Outpatient VA Medical Center to ensure an adequate Ambulatory experience during residency training.

In addition to their clinical requirements, all categorical residents are required to participate in scholarly activity. Scholarly activity can take many forms including clinical trials, chart review, bench research, morbidity and mortality review, clinicopathologic conference, and community service or education. Regardless of the method chosen, faculty will provide support, direction, and mentorship throughout the research endeavors.

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