The major focus of our residency program is to support the diverse career goals of our housestaff. As the only University-based training program in the state of Oregon, we have a broad mission in serving the public interest. This mission ranges from training the finest practitioners in primary care to preparing residents for entry into investigative careers.

Our residents divide their time among general medicine and subspecialty wards, intensive care units, ambulatory care, consultation services; and emergency room and long-term care settings.

During a resident's 2nd and 3rd years they can choose to participate in the Primary Care Track or Global Health Scholars Program (or both).  Residents may "track" in and out of primary care and global health if their desired career pathway changes.

 View more about the Program Curriculum

Diversity is a top priority at OHSU and is one of the six goals of our institution’s strategic vision, Vision 2020.  Diversity at OHSU means creating a community of inclusion.  We honor, respect, embrace, and value the unique contributions of and perspectives of all employees, patients, students, volunteers and our local and global communities.  The President of the University created the Diversity Advisory Council (DAC) which advises the President and Executive Leadership Team on enhancing diversity, multiculturalism, and equal opportunity for all aspects of the University's missions.  In addition, OHSU has the  Center for Diversity and Inclusion that supports and works in collaboration with academic units, hospitals and other communities promoting an environment that value and nurtures an inclusive environment of diversity.  The center hosts among many other events all inclusive reception events to encourage all diverse groups to come together from residents to students to faculty.  OHSU also sponsors OHSU Pride whose goal is the full and harmonious integration of all persons in the academic, social and professional life of OHSU regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.  OHSU for three years in a row has been recognized as a “Leader in LGBT Healthcare Equity” in the Healthcare Equality Index conducted by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation. 

Our residents have many opportunities to be exposed to a diversity of patients and healthcare delivery.  Because OHSU is Oregon’s only tertiary/quaternary academic health center, we care for  a wide variety of both common and complex clinical conditions.   Additionally, we care for patients from many sociocultural and socioeconomic backgrounds thus facilitating our education and awareness of different cultures and health beliefs.  Given the number of diverse patients seeking care at OHSU, we have a comprehensive interpreter services providing language services for Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Vietnamese and American Sign Languages, in addition to 74 other languages.  The Department of Medicine also has a number of researchers and clinicians who are interested in understanding the multiple ways that racial, ethnic and socioeconomic diversity affect health (Drs. Christina Nicolaidis, Honora Englander, Som Saha, and Devan Kansagara to name a few faculty).

Specific to our residency program, OHSU residents rotate through Central City Concern’s Old Town Clinic (OTC), a non-profit agency serving individuals and families affected by homelessness, poverty and addiction.  We have a unique collaboration with OTC where our residents gain an understanding of the effects of patients’ education levels, unemployment, poverty, housing, addiction, and lack of primary care on their health and well being by working with Internal Medicine faculty who supervise the clinic.  Our residents further their understanding of healthcare issues experienced by homeless youth by participating in Outside In, a facility whose mission it is to help homeless youth and other marginalized individuals move towards improved health and self-sufficiency.  Residents also have the opportunity to participate in a second clinic in multiple diverse locations including the Multnomah County Clinic and Portland State University Student Clinic.  Finally, our residents have used their elective to broaden their horizon as a physician by participating in healthcare programs in a number of countries from Ecuador to China.

The Department of Medicine and Residency Program are fully committed and adherent to the ACGME work hour standards.

Our call schedules optimize and, where possible, reduce transitions in care (‘hand-offs’). We will continue our commitment to maintaining 16 hour calls for PGY1 residents and, minimizing as much as possible, 24 hour call for PGY2/PGY3 residents.

The residents have a strong voice in helping us design and implement any needed change to the system.  We continue to modify our rotations as needed to address any work hour issues that may arise.

 

Graduating residents from the Department of Medicine have been highly successful on the American Board of Internal Medicine certifying exam. Our typical 3-year rolling pass rate  has been 98% or greater. We attribute this success in large part to the quality of our residents, who are very bright and intellectually curious, but also credit their overall training experience and the associated curriculum at OHSU.

To assist our residents in assessing their medical knowledge and preparing for the ABIM exam, we annually administer the In Training Exam  to all residents.  This exam was developed jointly by the American College of Physicians and the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine, and its results are used solely for self-assessment and formative feedback.  The exam results provide highly detailed information that assists residents and their faculty advisor in focusing their ongoing reading and studies.

The OHSU Internal Medicine Program has launched itself further into the 21st Century with several recent web-based and social media-based medical education innovations.  Created in June 2016, the Chief Residents continue to maintain the blog IMRESPDX.  This blog offers a dynamic array of educational resources, grouped by organ system as well as "quick hits".  Through it, the Chief Residents also routinely publish blog posts summarizing Noon Conference presentations, with thorough and insightful overview of discussions, learning points, and journal article links.  Additionally, the program has embraced the use of #hcsm (health care social media) for physicians and internal medicine residency trainees.  Follow us on our Facebook public page and with our Twitter account @OHSUIMRes.  We also heavily promote our residents' scholarship accomplishments on social media with the aid of our hashtag, #OHSUscholarship!