Program Features
Mission Statement:

The Department of Medicine will educate and train Internal Medicine residents to be knowledgeable, skillful and professional in the art and science of Medicine. The Department of Medicine and the residency program recognize education as one of three vital missions of this Medical Center, along with patient care and research. We will work to achieve the goal of superior resident training in Internal Medicine, as evidenced by faculty evaluations, superior patient care and competence in Internal Medicine certification (the ABIM exam).

The promotion of future academicians is vital to the maintenance of excellence in the profession of Medicine. We will strive toward a goal of educating and training future world class practicing physicians, researchers and educators who will maintain the ideals and commitment to excellence of this Department, the Medical Center and Georgetown University

Introduction: Our strong inpatient and ambulatory program emphasizes the central importance of education in all of our clinical activities, both at Georgetown and at our affiliated institutions. During the three years, the resident will encounter the entire range of acute and chronic illness seen in the community, the inner city, as well as the tertiary referral center. You will also encounter a program with a unique focus and commitment to continuity education for your future practice.

See Also:

• Block Schedules for House Staff
• Subspecialties Divisions in the Department of Medicine
• Conferences
• Grand Rounds Topics and Schedules
• Teaching Opportunities
• Other Features (living in DC)

Features of the Internal Medicine Residency Program at Georgetown include the following:

Attending Rounds: occur at least three days weekly with the inpatient teaching attending. These include formal bedside presentations of new patients and participation of the teaching attending as a "teaching consultant" in work rounds (always conducted by the team resident) on admitting or post-call days. Each team has a Medicine faculty member assigned to the team each month.  Residents coordinate the care of the patients admitted from our full-time internal medicine practice which constitutes the majority of admissions and from our growing network of full-time, primary care faculty internists in our satellites and in the community.

Morning Report: The Chairman, Program Director, and other faculty members participate in daily morning report regarding recent admissions along with follow-up on cases discussed earlier. The admitting resident, assisted by the Chief Residents and faculty, guides the case discussion and its implications.  A clinical problem solving exercise is incorporated into the discussion monthly, and the ethical implications of a case are discussed at least monthly by faculty expert in clinical bioethics. At the start of each morning report, a brief "morning unknown," based upon MKSAP questions, is reviewed by the Chief Resident in conjunction with the participating house staff.

Chief of Service Rounds: Two interns are selected each week to present a case at the bedside to our Chairman. Besides providing the participating residents and students the opportunity to interact at least weekly with the Chairman, this popular tradition serves an important role by allowing interns to polish formal case presentation skills. Case presentation is followed by an interactive discussion centering on diagnosis and management of the highlighted illness. Similar rounds are conducted monthly by senior faculty at our affiliated hospitals as well.

Resident Rotations: Hospitals available for inpatient and ambulatory rotations include Georgetown University Hospital, the National Institutes of Health, the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the Washington Hospital Center and other affiliated community hospitals. Resident requests are honored when possible based on a "wish list"; schedules increase in flexibility during the second and third years of the program. With advance planning, time is available for research blocks as well as away electives (including abroad). Each resident in general will rotate at one community hospital or another but not all. Interns principally remain at Georgetown and the VAMC. Please see Affiliated Hospitals page for additional information.

Call Schedule: The call schedule on all general medicine ward rotations is every fourth, every fifth or every sixth night. The teams consist of one resident, one intern and one or two acting interns, in addition to two or three third year medical students who are on call as a team. An intern, on average, will receive 5 admissions on call days. In order to spread admissions and relieve the on-call teams, there is an "early admit" system as well.  A night float system has been in place at GUH for the past 5 years (see Night Float below).

Night Float: There is a full night float team at Georgetown, in order to relieve the call teams, so the resident and intern on call take their last admission at 7:30 p.m. and do not stay in-house. The night float team takes admissions and cares for inpatients overnight, then returns care responsibility to the primary team the next morning.

Days Off: All residents and interns are guaranteed one day off each week on average while on inpatient services. Residents on elective generally have weekends off and no night call, although they may be responsible for float coverage once or twice during the month. Ample vacation time is divided into two separate blocks totaling four weeks each year, plus one week off for every resident during the Christmas / New Years time frame.  In addition, all categorical interns have a 10-day break between their PGY-1 and PGY-2 year.

Disaster Resident: Residents on elective provide coverage in the event of illness or emergency.

Critical Care: This experience at Georgetown has traditionally been an area of strength in the residency program. Georgetown University Hospital provides exposure to the latest in sophisticated intervention and monitoring with patients referred locally and from around the world. On the Cardiology elective, daily rounds by Cardiology attendings focus on bedside evaluation, perioperative cardiac evaluation and risk stratification, interpretation of data, and management of common cardiac disorders as well as the latest in diagnostic and therapeutic modalities.

The GUH Medical Intensive Care Unit experience includes management of the full range of life-threatening medical illness. There is an active ventilator service, with daily rounds by Critical Care attendings at the University and at all affiliate programs. Patient volume is consistent, and the diversity of illness seen is assured by an active air transport referral service from throughout the surrounding region.

MICU and CCU rotations at affiliated hospitals round out the overall critical care experience.  Interns and residents rotate through the CCU and Cardiology services at Washington Hospital Center, offering the busiest cardiac catheterization lab in the nation.  MICU and CCU rotations at Inova Fairfax and the combined ICU/CCU at VHC have been a mainstay of the program as well.

ICU experiences require every fourth night call. Numbers of admissions vary with location.