Curriculum, Department of Family Medicine in the Medical School at the University of Minnesota

	First Year Second and Third Year Conference Schedule

• Our program is a fully ACGME-accredited family medicine residency program.
• The program offers a broad curriculum designed to train you to be an excellent family physician.
• Whether you want to practice in a rural area, inner city, or anywhere in between, we will give you the tools to succeed.
• Our grads prove it—we have trained successful family doctors practicing locally, throughout the region, across the country, and around the globe.

First Year
Your residency begins with training in neonatal resuscitation and basic and advanced life support, as well as an introduction to family medicine, which focuses on understanding the scope of family medicine and how to effectively define and meet your educational goals.

A support/mentor group for first-year residents meets monthly and is facilitated by a community family physician, allowing residents time to discuss, reflect, and give support to each other concerning the stresses of medicine and residency. A second-year group is available to interested residents.

Second Year
Residents’ time in clinic averages three half-days per week. All residents are encouraged to attend deliveries of their own obstetric patients whenever their schedules permit. Residents generally fulfill their four-week community health rotation during the second year. Chemical dependency and hospice rotations occur during the second year, and electives can be created for specific resident educational goals.

Third Year
Eleven weeks of the third year are spent in elective time, allowing residents to tailor their programs to suit their future practice needs. Residents average four half-days weekly in the family medicine clinic. During their twelve weeks as family medicine service chief, G-3s supervise the G-1s and G-2s who also comprise the service.

Longitudinal Courses
Several curricular elements are completed longitudinally.

Geriatrics
Geriatrics is taught throughout the three years of the residency, beginning in the first year with monthly meetings for geriatrics seminar and patient visits at one of several local nursing homes. Nursing home care is continued in the second and third years with patient visits integrated into residents’ schedules.

Behaviorial Science
Behavioral medicine teaching is longitudinal and integrated into the curriculum in numerous arenas, including family medicine service teaching rounds, team meetings, clinic precepting, videotaped reviews, seminars, and noon conferences.

We have several programs aimed at improving patients' abilities to access and benefit from our medical services, including prenatal, parenting, and smoking cessation classes and groups for patients with asthma, diabetes, and depression. A social worker and patient advocate are available to work with many of our patients.

We work with Seton Outreach Services, which provides social service to clinic OB patients in close collaboration with our physicians. We also have a nurse educator and a nurse practitioner who specializes in and teaches residents about women's health care. Residents speak on health issues at area public schools and community groups.

Each year the program sponsors a wilderness medicine retreat for residents (below)