The UCLA Internal Medicine Primary Care Track

Mission Statement and Program Summary:

The goal of the UCLA Internal Medicine Primary Care Track is to train future leaders in general internal medicine.  Graduates of the UCLA Internal Medicine Primary Care Track have skills in providing comprehensive initial evaluation and coordinated continuous care for adults with any health concern, including patients of all socioeconomic backgrounds, and patients with multiple chronic diseases.  Residency at UCLA prepares physicians to enter private or academic clinical practice, to work as medical educators in primary care, and/or to pursue further education to work as leaders in systems of healthcare or as health services researchers.

The UCLA Internal Medicine Primary Care Track provides training in health promotion, disease prevention and early detection, counseling and patient education, care of chronic illness, palliative and end of life care, quality improvement, medical education, and management and coordination of health care teams.  Residents train in a variety of venues.  Outpatient sites include a public-private partnership clinic for the underserved, a community-based outpatient practice, nationally recognized practices in internal medicine subspecialties, women’s health, sports medicine, adolescent medicine, HIV/AIDS, integrative medicine, and geriatrics.  Inpatient experiences occur at community-based and tertiary care hospitals, including hospitals dedicated to the care of the underserved.

Description:

The UCLA Internal Medicine Primary Care Track is a 3-year residency leading to eligibility for Board Certification in Internal Medicine.  Four positions are offered each year.  Outpatient training occurs in a community-based practice specially designated for the education of primary care residents.  A dedicated healthcare team and designated primary care faculty support the primary care resident outpatient practice.  Inpatient training, particularly in the R2 and R3 years, focuses on care of patients with common internal medicine diagnoses in community-based facilities, including facilities dedicated to the care of the medically underserved.
 
The residency is based at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and includes training at:

• UCLA Healthcare- The largest provider of outpatient primary care services in West Los Angeles, UCLA Healthcare serves a diverse patient population which reflects the racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity of Los Angeles
• The Simms-Mann Health and Wellness Center - Part of the Venice Family Clinic, the largest clinic caring for the underserved in the nation, the Simms-Mann Health and Wellness Center serves patients without regard for ability to pay, and offers specialized programs for vulnerable patients such as the homeless, victims of intimate partner violence, and persons with HIV/AIDS
• Santa Monica-UCLA Hospital- A community teaching hospital staffed by UCLA faculty physicians, Santa Monica-UCLA Hospital is the principal site of inpatient care for patients of UCLA Healthcare
• Harbor-UCLA Medical Center- A Los Angeles County hospital caring for medically underserved patients, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center is part of an integrated healthcare system funded by Los Angeles County dedicated to providing inpatient and outpatient service to County residents, without regard for ability to pay
• ValleyCare Olive View-UCLA Medical Center- ValleyCare maintains responsibility for the inpatient and outpatient care of the medically indigent, low income, uninsured residents of the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys
• The Ronald Reagan-UCLA Medical Center- Consistently ranked one of the top five hospitals in the nation and the best medical center in the western United States by U.S. News & World Report, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is at the cutting edge of biomedical research and is the world leader in organ transplantation

The UCLA Internal Medicine Primary Care Track is affiliated with the UCLA Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research, which is internationally recognized for its research on improvement of quality of care, health disparities in underserved and minority patient populations, medical ethics, and women’s health.

Internship

The goal of internship training for primary care residents is to build a firm foundation in internal medicine skills, to begin to build a continuity primary care practice, and to introduce key concepts in primary care.

Primary care interns begin weekly continuity clinics at a dedicated community-based practice, with a small group of core faculty and assigned support staff. Primary care interns are each assigned a mentor in general internal medicine, and participate in a monthly general internal medicine journal club. 

The curriculum for interns in primary care medicine includes ten months of hospital-based rotations, including enhanced experiences at sites caring for medically underserved patients, and two months of outpatient-based rotations.   The outpatient-based rotations include one month of outpatient clinical experiences in general internal medicine and specialty outpatient care, and one month of advanced ambulatory skills training, including experiences to introduce community resources and systems based practice. 

R2 and R3 years

The goal of the second and third year training for primary care residents is to enhance knowledge and skills in internal medicine, to develop a continuity primary care practice that provides outstanding preventive care and chronic disease management, and to gain abilities to practice effectively within the larger healthcare system.  Healthcare system skills include managing a healthcare team, conceiving and performing quality improvement, and dealing effectively with healthcare entities such as managed care organizations and public healthcare systems

During the second and third years, residents alternate two month outpatient and two month inpatient blocks.  Outpatient rotations include subspecialty clinics, a choice of selectives in sports medicine, dermatology, podiatry, women’s health, student health, geriatrics, integrative medicine, and adolescent medicine, training in quality improvement and chronic care of the underserved, and experiences in medical ethics, palliative care, and end of life care.  While on outpatient rotations, residents have a half-day of protected time each week for didactic education and workshops.  Residents also further develop continuity care for underserved patients at the Simms-Mann practice site.  Inpatient rotations have enhanced focus on care of the underserved and community-based hospital experiences. 

All residents will complete a quality improvement project with mentorship by health services research faculty.  Additional experiences in health services research and medical education are available for interested residents.