Residents may elect to spend a month in the office of a private internist. The ambulatory care practice sites for houseofficers are the internal medicine clinic at the Shands Hospital, the general medicine clinic at the VA Hospital, and three extramural clinics in Gainesville. Residents see new patients for consultation or continuing care. Residents also follow their patients after hospital discharge. Health maintenance and disease prevention are stressed.
Residents also learn to perform flexible sigmoidoscopy.
Residents gain experience in general medicine consults at Shands Hospital. Inpatients with a wide variety of medical problems are evaluated. These include pre-operative assessments and common, severe and complex medical problems on other specialty services. As part of the geriatric program, residents have a one month rotation on the 16- bed VAMC Geriatric Evaluation and Management Unit. During geriatric rotations houseofficers gain experience in working with elderly patients, chronic disease, common problems in the elderly, geriatric team assessment, and rehabilitation, and they learn about the programs and facilities available to the elderly.