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The University of Nevada School of Medicine offers an accredited three-year physician residency program in internal medicine. The school’s affiliation with UMC provides a superb setting to teach internal medicine. The school’s internal medicine faculty trains about 45 resident physicians in a three-year categorical program, that offers in-patient and ambulatory learning experiences. The goal is to impart to resident physicians the medical knowledge and skills to nurture them into highly qualified internists. Curriculum Patient-based and didactic elements form the foundation of a curriculum that supports a diverse in-patient and ambulatory care experience. Didactic teaching is an integral part of internal medicine training and important to the school’s internal medicine residency program. It includes a daily morning report and noon conference.

At the morning report, second and third year residents present patients who were recently admitted. They must facilitate discussion of the differential diagnosis and management issues and present recently published and salient literature. Daily noon conferences offer a diverse learning experience, covering major topics in internal medicine, adolescent medicine, gender related medical concerns, pain management and end of life issues. The program also includes a monthly morbidity and mortality conference, as well as a journal club. Attending physicians in in-patient wards and out-patient rotations are responsible for incorporating didactic teaching into daily rounds.

The practice of internal medicine is evolving with an emphasis on ambulatory care. At the same time the hospitalist movement is becoming more popular. The school’s internal medicine residency program offers exposure to both modalities so that resident physicians feel comfortable in either discipline after completing training. The medical school’s affiliation with UMC provides resident physicians with invaluable experiences, encountering many different clinical situations and a diverse population of patients.

Internship
Internship consists of five or six months of general internal medicine wards plus a month each in the intensive care unit, coronary care unit and emergency medicine. In addition there is a month in ambulatory medicine and one elective month. Preliminary residents follow the same curriculum as categorical interns except they may elect to substitute another elective for the ambulatory month.

Second Year
The second year of residency includes about four months of subspecialty rotations and electives and one month each of hematology/oncology and nightfloat. Second year residents also begin assuming more of a supervisory role, acting as team leader in both general wards for four months and in the units for one month each.

Third Year
The third year includes two months in general wards, one month each in the intensive care unit, coronary care unit, nightfloat, emergency medicine, ambulatory medicine and women’s health. The remaining months consist of additional subspecialty rotations and electives.

Ambulatory
The program’s ambulatory rotations and consult months compliment invaluable in-patient experiences. The program provides the full compliment of subspecialty consult rotations and offers exposure to geriatrics, adolescent medicine, medical ophthalmology, orthopedics, otorhinolaryngology, psychiatry and dermatology. Resident physicians also gain experience in the on-site neurology/neuroscience program including the Alzheimer’s Clinic and Center for Neuromuscular Diseases. The Outpatient Continuity Clinic is an important experience for residents in training. The clinic is organized in a manner that offers broad exposure to ambulatory care. Residents have a continuity experience (half a day each week) at the school’s affiliate hospital during the three years of training. This allows residents the chance to follow patients recently discharged from the hospital. Resident physicians act as liaisons between the hospital and ambulatory setting, gaining valuable experience in longitudinal care. In addition, a second half-day clinic was added for third year residents at the Outpatient VA Medical Center to ensure an adequate ambulatory experience.

In addition to clinical requirements, all categorical residents are required to participate in scholarly activity. Scholarly activity can include clinical trials, chart review, bench research, morbidity and mortality review, clinicopathologic conference and community service or education. Faculty provide support, direction and mentorship throughout research endeavors.

To learn more, visit the medical school’s Web site for the internal medicine residency program in Las Vegas.