Research and teaching efforts of the units based at Strong Memorial Hospital are coordinated with those in the affiliated hospitals. In addition, a large group of part-time faculty admit their patients to our hospitals and participate actively in our teaching programs. Our residents work closely with this diverse and contemporary faculty in a health care system which has gained national prominence for its emphasis on promoting medical education and innovation in health care. Even in this era of rapidly changing concepts of health care delivery, this unusually stable system allows delegation of responsibility to residents while at all times insuring supervision and teaching from senior staff. Rochester has long been recognized for its emphasis on patient-centered teaching of internal medicine.
Patients are an integral part of every teaching exercise.
Residents, faculty and medical students learn from each other as they work together to address the patient's needs. We emphasize careful collection of clinical data, including information on the psychological and social context of health and illness, as the critical first step in clinical problem solving. Residents and faculty correlate their findings with important pathophysiologic mechanisms and validate hypotheses with appropriately selected laboratory tests and procedures. In both of our residency programs, a core curriculum addresses both the inpatient and ambulatory educational needs of contemporary internists while a diverse selection of electives allows each resident to design an overall program which meets their evolving individual career goals. Electives are taken not only on the medical center campus but also in physicians' private offices and at other affiliated hospitals and health care facilities.