Curriculum and Call
The Grand Itasca Rural Family Medicine Residency Program prepares family physicians to possess the training and expertise they need to provide definitive care for the vast majority of patients they will see in their practice and adapt to the leadership roles that will be part of their future practice in the community.
Rotations and electives
View rotations below for each year of residency, longitudinal curriculum, and electives.
Procedures
Residents learn clinic office procedures and hospital procedures.
Moonlighting
Numerous moonlighting activities are available for second- and third-year residents.
Global Health
Opportunities include international and global-local electives, courses, seminars, conferences, and fellowship.
Programmatic courses
The department sponsors several required and optional one- to two-day programmatic courses. Topics include women's health, sports and musculoskeletal medicine, community health, and more.
Call
View information below on shift call, in-hospital call, and family medicine service call.
First-year rotations
- Cardiology - 4 weeks
- Emergency medicine - 4 weeks
- Endocrinology - 2 weeks
- Inpatient pediatrics - 4 weeks
- Intensive care - 4 weeks
- Obstetrics - 8 weeks
- Otolaryngology (ENT) - 2 weeks
- Outpatient pediatrics - 4 weeks
- Pediatric emergency medicine - 4 weeks
- Neonatology/newborn nursery - 4 weeks
- Neurology - 4 weeks
- Teaching service - 8 weeks
Second-year rotations
- Addiction medicine - 4 weeks
- Electives - 12 weeks
- Emergency medicine - 4 weeks
- Hematology/oncology - 2 weeks
- Inpatient psychiatry - 4 weeks
- Obstetrics - 4 weeks
- Orthopedics - 4 weeks
- Sports medicine - 4 weeks
- Surgery - 4 weeks
- Teaching service - 8 weeks
- Urology - 2 weeks
Third-year rotations
- Community Health - 4 weeks
- Electives - 12 weeks
- Geriatrics - 4 weeks
- Gynecology (women’s health) - 4 weeks
- Hospice and palliative care - 4 weeks
- Neurology - 4 weeks (longitudinal experience)
- Obstetrics - 4 weeks
- Outpatient pediatrics - 4 weeks
- Practice management - 4 weeks
- Teaching service - 8 weeks
Residents As Teachers
Family medicine residents are directly responsible for a portion of medical student clinical education during clinical experiences and clerkships.
Medical education features a closely connected cycle of teaching, learning, and progressive responsibilities; senior learners teach junior learners, and all learners are involved in ongoing professional and personal development.
Residents of the University of Minnesota family medicine residency programs have many responsibilities, including those of supervisors and educators. Most medical students encounter family medicine residents as teachers during the Family Medicine Clerkship. Therefore, residents receive instruction about clerkship/rotation goals and objectives as well as training in teaching methods.
The Residents as Teachers Curriculum provides formal instruction for residents and fellows on effective teaching skills, student assessment, and medical student mistreatment. The training includes podcasts and supplementary materials covering feedback techniques, competency-based assessment, work-hour policies, and clerkship learning objectives. As part of their orientation to the University of Minnesota Office of Graduate Medical Education, residents must complete the required modules, review policies, and submit an attestation form.
Resources
- Residents Teaching Students: Developed by family medicine medical student education director David Power, MBBS, MPH, and colleagues, it provides an overview of several teaching strategies. One of these is a common teaching method used by both residents and faculty, known as the One Minute Preceptor.
- Resident Educator Development and corresponding Moodle site: Assembled by the University’s Internal Medicine Residency Program and Office of Graduate Medical Education.
- Faculty advisors and residency directors can also connect residents with resources to enhance their teaching abilities.
Electives
A variety of opportunities include:
- Addiction medicine
- Allergy
- Anesthesiology
- Dermatology
- Gastroenterology
- Intensive care
- Inpatient medicine
- International health
- Medical dentistry
- Neurology
- Obstetrics
- Ophthalmology
- Otolaryngology
- Pathology/medical examining
- Pharmacy
- Procedural electives
- Psychiatry – outpatient
- Radiology
- Research
- Surgery
- Trauma
Night float
- Woodwinds PGY1
- Family-friendly night float system with intern and senior resident in-house at all times
- First year: five to six weeks and/or weekends doing labor and child-birth care
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The first-year pediatrics inpatient rotation consists of three weeks of day coverage and one week of nights at M Health Fairview Masonic Children’s Hospital
There is no in-house call during PGY2 and PGY3.
Longitudinal experiences
Our longitudinal experiences include the following:
- Continuity of patient care
- Weekly didactic conferences
- PGY2 and PGY3 neurology
- PGY2 and PGY3 orthopedics
Procedural skills and certifications
Skills will be gained in the following:
- Arthrocentesis
- Casting and splinting
- Circumcision
- Cryotherapy
- Endometrial biopsy
- Fetal monitoring
- Incision and drainage of abscesses
- Lumbar puncture
- Office obstetrical ultrasound and point of care ultrasound
- Skin biopsy/lesion excision
- Surgical assisting
- Suturing/laceration repair
- Vaginal delivery, both assisted and spontaneous
Certifications:
- Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics (ALSO)
- Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS)
- Basic Cardiac Life Support (BCLS) certification is required prior to entering residency
- Comprehensive Advanced Life Support (CALS)
- Certification in Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) is available, if desired
- Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP)
- Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) certification will be done during residency
Call
There is no in-house call after the first year of residency.