Our rotations occur in four-week block schedules, consisting of 13 blocks per academic year. We follow the ACGME regulations for duty hour reporting.
Transitional Year regulations require at least 24 weeks of fundamental clinical skills rotations in the primary specialties: emergency medicine, family medicine, general surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, and pediatrics. Our residents participate in at least one block each of Inpatient Internal Medicine, Inpatient Family Medicine, Ambulatory Medicine, Emergency Medicine, General Surgery, and Obstetrics and Gynecology. In keeping with ACGME requirements, our residents have at least 140 hours of exposure to patient care in Emergency Medicine and also in Ambulatory Medicine.
Our Transitional Year Residents participate in at least three months of clinical time where they are rotating with our institution’s Internal Medicine’s and Family Medicine’s Inpatient ward teams. Additionally, our residents spend [at least] one month working with the Internal Medicine Program’s residents on an Intensive Care Unit rotation as well as an additional month on a night float rotation where they are responsible for overnight admissions and patient care for the Internal Medicine Program’s ward teams.
We provide for at least eight weeks of rotation in electives in keeping with ACGME requirements, and offer a wide variety of clinical opportunities from which our residents can choose. We offer the opportunity for our residents to choose to do research rotations with faculty from Georgia State University in Atlanta where they work on neurodiagnostic imaging. In addition, we also offer the opportunity for our residents to design specialty research rotations of their own, and pursue that project with their sponsoring preceptor. Our residents can also choose an elective to work with the Medical Association of Georgia in downtown Atlanta in a role that sees them working in health policy and advocacy to effect change through our state’s legislature. Additionally, we offer a rotation with the Gwinnett/Newton/Rockdale branch of the Georgia Department of Public Health doing epidemiological work, and a non-clinical elective in Health Informatics. Lastly, we offer a wide variety of medical specialties (Sports Medicine, Vascular Surgery, Orthopaedics, Dermatology, Cardiology, Pulmonology, Rheumatology, ENT, Urology, etc.) from which our residents can choose their clinical elective experiences.
Weekly Didactics – A rotating schedule of lectures – both live and recorded – on various topics throughout the year about a wide variety of medical specialties and topics. Discussions on leadership training and disaster preparedness are also included throughout the year.
Monthly Journal Club – Residents select two articles that they find interesting to discuss in a PICO format and present to the group for discussion and interpretation.
Simulation Lab Experience – Once per month, our residents participate in Simulation Lab experiences to enhance their clinical skills and gain exposure to a variety of clinical scenarios. The Simulation Lab is also open for practice on and of techniques for a wide variety of procedures (thoracentesis, paracentesis, lumbar puncture, central lines, etc.) with a prior reservation.
Weekly Internal Medicine and Family Medicine Grand Rounds – Twice weekly conferences continued medical education credits are provided.
The program requires scholarly activity as a part of the Transitional year training, and encourages and supports the output of our residents through a variety of methods, including but not limited to: Individually presented and prepared Grand Rounds presentations; Presentations in local, state, and national conferences; Publications in medical journals, pamphlets, online, and other sources of written media. Our residents have given presentations of their work in a variety of settings including conferences at the CDC in Atlanta and over the radio in interviews discussing their projects with the Medical Association of Georgia.
