BLOCK CURRICULUM
First Year - 4 Week Blocks
| Family Medicine Inpatient | Family Medicine Inpatient | Family Medicine Inpatient | PGY-1 Cardiology |
| MICU | Peds Clinic | Peds Inpatient | OB WMMC |
| OB WMMC | Surgery Inpatient | Surgery Clinics | Gynecology |
| Family Medicine Inpatient |
On Call: Approximately every 4 days
Office Days: One half-day per week
Second Year - 4 Week Blocks
| Family Medicine Inpatient | Family Medicine Inpatient | Pediatrics Inpatient | OB |
| ER | Neonatology | Geriatrics | Westside Clinic |
| Orthopaedics | Behavioral Science | Dermatology | Cardiology |
| Elective |
On Call: Approximately every 6 days
Office Days: Three to four half-days per week
Third Year - 4 Week Blocks
| Family Medicine Inpatient | Family Medicine Inpatient/Practice Management | Gynecology | Urology |
| Community Medicine | ENT/Ophthalmology | Westside Clinic | Sports Medicine |
| Elective | Elective | Elective | Elective |
| Elective |
On Call: Approximately every 12 days
Office Days: Four to five half-days per week
Electives :
| Allergy/Immunology | Cardiology | Dermatology | ENT |
| Endocrinology | GI | FM Office | Infectious Disease |
| Maternity Care/Obstetrics | Neurology | Ophthalmology | Orthopaedics |
| Podiatry | Pulmonology | Radiology | Nephrology |
| Rheumatology | Peds. Dermatology | Peds. Endocrinology | Peds. ID |
| Peds. Office | Peds. Urology | Sports Medicine | Ultrasound |
| Away/International/Rural | Corrections Medicine |
 One aspect of our program which has garnered much attention is the Family Medicine Inpatient Service. This service comprises residents and family medicine attendings, and provides comprehensive patient care in a family medicine model. Thus patients are cared for in the medicine, surgery, pediatrics, maternity care, rehabilitation and emergency department arenas by the same inpatient team, striving for continuity between the hospital and the Family Medicine Center. Office-based links to the hospital's computerized records facilitate transfer of information and coordination of care. Our pediatric rotations are based at Miller Children's Hospital, the second largest children's hospital in Los Angeles County, located adjacent to Long Beach Memorial. The patient care and educational resources offered make the pediatric training (and patient care) here unsurpassed. |
LONGITUDINAL CURRICULUM
| In addition to each resident's continuity practice in the Family Medicine Center, certain elements of medical education lend themselves more to a longitudinal format,
rather than a block experience. Among the experiences taught in a longitudinal manner are: Nursing Home Care: Provided by second and third year residents at nursing homes in the Long Beach area, this care is supervised by Sue Melvin (a geriatrician by training), who also integrates structured learning on elder care into the experience.  House Calls Service: A part of training here since 1983, the House Calls Service involves one resident at a time going out on home visits with one of the full-time faculty, both to provide in-home assessments of the resident's own patients and to provide ongoing care for a panel of home-bound patients in the community. Didactic Conferences: Daily noon conferences constitute an important part of the curriculum, with the conference topics following an 18-month template designed to cover the most crucial topics in family medicine. Balint Group: A monthly meeting facilitated by Jay Lee and Wendy Linderholm, this is a structured discussion group in which residents can examine the unique psychosocial issues which arise as a result of the patient-physician relationship. Here, physician support is modeled and confidentiality is strictly maintained. Family Centered Maternity Care: Each resident, following completion of her or his obstetrics rotations in the first year, builds an ongoing maternity care practice within the Family Medicine Center continuity practice. This care is supervised by Abi Fletcher & Rose Swords, with back-up, as necessary, from perinatologists at Memorial Women's Hospital. Group visits: Since 2006 we have been holding monthly group visits for patients with diabetes in our practice. This has been an opportunity to develop one element of the future of family medicine and demonstrate how our patients can learn from and teach one another. We have since added monthly group visits dealing with obesity in teens, overseen by Brooke LaDuca. Procedures: Our residents are encouraged to learn and practice the breadth of procedures encountered in family medicine, and are required to document specific numbers of all procedures prior to graduation. All procedures are supervised by our attending physicians, with supportive articles provided beforehand. In addition, we hold quarterly workshops for all residents, covering core procedures and skills. |
