Curriculum
During the Family Medicine Residency at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., your clinical training will emphasize the most common problems seen and procedures performed by family physicians. You will gain extensive experience in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Home visits to patients will also be part of your training.
Outpatient: Mayo Family Clinic Kasson
Throughout the program, you will provide continuing care for families at Mayo Family Clinic Kasson, which is located in the town of Kasson, about 14 miles west of Rochester. This clinic serves Kasson, with a population of approximately 4,400, and the surrounding rural area, which has a population of more than 25,000.
You will spend a minimum of two half-days a week at the Kasson clinic during your first year; three half-days a week during your second year; and five half-days a week during your third year. This will allow you to develop a continuity practice of your own. You also are encouraged to become an active member of the Kasson community.
At Mayo Family Clinic Kasson, families will be assigned to you with the expectation that you will provide most of their care during your residency. Patients' records are maintained in an electronic medical record, and computer access is provided from each exam room. You will be assigned to a resident team that includes first-, second-, and third-year residents and a consultant.
Outpatient specialties: Mayo Clinic in Rochester and surrounding communities
One strength of our program is outpatient specialty training. During outpatient rotations, you will have the opportunity for one-on-one training with many of the nation's leading experts in subspecialty fields.
You will take required rotations in specialties such as dermatology, otorhinolaryngology, orthopedics and urology. In some cases, these rotations are at Mayo Clinic Health System sites in the surrounding communities. While at these sites, you will work one-on-one with the specialist and receive individualized training in their fields.
As you will be the only resident present, you will have the opportunity to see all the patients and perform or assist with all the procedures, making for an outstanding training opportunity. Our residents perform a significant number of upper and lower endoscopies and will have the chance to assist on a number of vasectomies. Since you will be training in smaller communities, you will also get an excellent feel for the workings of small-town and rural medicine.
Inpatient: Mayo Clinic hospitals
The inpatient component of the Family Medicine Residency is spent primarily on the family medicine adult inpatient service at Saint Marys Hospital and the combined family medicine-pediatrics newborn nursery service at Rochester Methodist Hospital.
The family medicine adult inpatient service admits and cares for patients needing hospital care from any of the family medicine clinics. As the admitting resident, you will be in charge of the patient's care during the hospital stay. Specialty consulting services are available 24 hours a day and often contribute excellent teaching when they are consulted.
The family medicine-pediatrics newborn nursery service cares for all newborns born at Rochester Methodist Hospital. As the resident on call, you will respond to newborn resuscitations as a part of a multidisciplinary team and deliver routine care to newborns. Other inpatient training includes rotations to the critical care service and code team at Rochester Methodist Hospital and inpatient pediatrics.
While these rotations are supervised by other departments, you will be treated as an equal and will have duties and responsibilities identical to the other residents on the service.
Rotations
This is a typical training schedule in the Family Medicine Residency:
| PGY-1 |
Length |
| Family medicine adult inpatient service |
1.5 months |
| Emergency Department |
2 months |
| Critical care service |
1 month |
| General obstetrics |
1 month |
| Pediatrics (inpatient) |
1 month |
| Gynecology |
1 month |
| Cardiology |
1 month |
| Obstetrics boot camp and introduction to Kasson |
2 months |
| Continuity clinic at Kasson |
1.5 months |
| PGY-2 |
Length |
| Family medicine adult inpatient service |
3 months |
| Obstetrics |
1 month |
| General surgery (Mayo Clinic Health System in Owatonna) |
1 month |
| General surgery (Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin) |
1 month |
| Pediatrics (inpatient) |
1 month |
| Pediatrics (outpatient) |
1 month |
| Family medicine and pediatrics newborn nursery |
1.5 months |
| Outpatient orthopedics (Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea) |
1 month |
| Kasson Clinic |
2 weeks |
| Elective |
1 month |
| PGY-3 |
Length |
| Family medicine adult inpatient service |
1.5 months |
| Urology, ear-nose-throat and ophthalmology |
1 month |
| Dermatology |
1 month |
| Sports medicine |
1 month |
| Psychiatry |
1 month |
| Kasson Clinic |
1.5 months |
| Electives |
5 months |
Electives
Your elective options are nearly unlimited. Each rotation lasts from one to four weeks, depending on the elective. Your choices include:
- Cardiovascular Health Clinic
- Travel medicine and international health clinic
- Echocardiography Laboratory
- Vascular medicine and wound care clinic
- Geriatrics
- High-risk obstetrics
- Hospice
- Lipid Clinic
- Medical genetics
- Occupational medicine
- Pediatric allergy
- Pediatric cardiology
- Diabetes and endocrine specialty clinics
- Physical medicine and rehabilitation
- Pulmonary function laboratory
- Research
- Rheumatology
- Sports medicine
- Third-world medicine
Hands-on training
Once a month, a four-hour hands-on training session is scheduled. These sessions include simulation, standardized patients and small-group problem-based learning experiences.
Didactic training
Clinical conferences, journal club and one-on-one instruction are an integral part of Mayo Clinic's Family Medicine Residency. Behavioral medicine will be integrated throughout all three years of your training.
Weekly conferences will cover primary care topics, including discussion of ethical dilemmas faced by physicians in training. Second- and third-year residents participate in a group quality-improvement project and practice management seminars.
Research training
Your research opportunities at Mayo Clinic are outstanding. You are encouraged but not required to participate in research activities. Opportunities for both clinical studies and laboratory-based projects exist. Many faculty members are actively involved in research projects and can serve as research mentors.
Teaching opportunities
You will have the opportunity to teach Mayo Medical School students, residents from other subspecialties and visiting students from other medical schools through bedside instruction and formal didactic lectures.
Practice board examinations
In preparation for board examinations, you will take the In-Training Examination provided by the American Board of Family Medicine once a year.
Rotations at other Mayo Clinic sites
You may choose to take an elective rotation at either Mayo Clinic in Florida or Mayo Clinic in Arizona. Mayo Clinic funds the authorized additional costs of your travel, housing, auto rental and licensure fees. Our residents consistently rate these rotations very highly.
Moonlighting
Moonlighting is permitted for licensed residents beyond the PGY-1 level. Moonlighting activities may be scheduled during those times when you are assigned to consultative or outpatient rotations with the prior approval of the program director.
Moonlighting should not interfere with required learning and must not violate the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) work-hour rules.
Evaluation
To ensure that you acquire adequate knowledge and develop your technical skills, your performance will be monitored carefully during the Family Medicine Residency. You will be evaluated formally by your supervising faculty member after each clinical rotation.
You will meet with your assigned faculty adviser and program director at least twice each year. In addition, you will regularly evaluate the faculty and program to ensure that your educational needs are being met.
Career development
You will meet periodically with various faculty members, administrators and the training program director to discuss your goals. Mayo Clinic often recruits staff physicians from its own training programs, so when you successfully complete the Family Medicine Residency, job opportunities may be available at one of Mayo Clinic's group practices.
Additional training
At the conclusion of the Family Medicine Residency, you may wish to continue your graduate medical education at Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education. Fellowships are available in preventive medicine and geriatrics. The program director can provide more information about these opportunities.
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