Curriculum

First Year

The residency operates on a schedule of 13 block rotations per year. Your first year includes rotations in such areas as medicine, surgery, obstetrics, pediatrics, dermatology, urology, ophthalmology, radiology, and emergency medicine.

Unique to our program is a newborn/obstetrics rotation where residents follow, deliver, and discharge both mothers and newborns alike. This rotation includes a 1 to 1 resident to attending ratio for education on both the obstetrics floor as well as in the neonatal special care unit with the neonatologist from Nemours Children’s Hospital. It is truly a family medicine experience. In addition, as a first-year resident, you will see patients in the office at a minimum of one half-day per week.

    First Year Rotation Schedule

    • Inpatient Medicine at Saint Francis Hospital – 8 weeks
    • Pediatrics ED at Nemours Children’s Hospital – 4 weeks
    • Surgery at Saint Francis Hospital – 4 weeks
    • ENT/Ophthalmology (OFF SITE) – 4 weeks
    • OB/Newborn at Saint Francis Hospital – 8 weeks
    • Emergency Medicine at Saint Francis Hospital – 4 weeks
    • Family Practice Center (Outpatient in our own office) – 4 weeks
    • Night Float – 8 weeks
    • Derm/GU (OFF SITE) – 4 weeks
    • Radiology/Targeted OB and Inpatient – 4 weeks

    Second Year

    During the second year, your training consists of 12 weeks of inpatient medicine with added responsibility in the ICU. The inpatient pediatrics rotations are held at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children and at Christiana Care, both tertiary care hospitals. At this time, increasing emphasis is placed on various sub-specialty experiences such as orthopedics, behavioral health and geriatrics.

    Second Year Rotation Schedule

    • Inpatient Medicine at Saint Francis Hospital – 8 weeks
    • Pediatric Inpatient (OFF SITE) – 8 weeks
    • Orthopedics with Premier Orthopedics at Saint Francis Hospital – 4 weeks
    • Behavioral Health (OFF SITE) – 4 weeks
    • OB/GYN at Saint Francis Hospital – 8 weeks
    • Night Float – 4 weeks
    • Geriatrics (ON and OFF SITE) – 4 weeks
    • Elective – 4 weeks
    • Cardiology/ICU – 4 weeks
    • Practice Management/Target OB and Inpatient – 4 weeks

    Third Year

    Your third year provides elective time for individually-defined education. An abundance of clinical opportunities are available for the three blocks of electives, which could include time in global health, radiology, urgent care, palliative care, and gastroenterology, among many others. Our program allows time for you to develop training in a major clinical field of interest in family medicine, such as obstetrics, pediatrics, behavioral health, sports medicine, outpatient surgery, and/or internal medicine.

    During the third year, you have the opportunity to test your medical knowledge and administrative skills when you are the supervising resident on the medicine team. The number of office hours increases to a minimum of three half-days per week. Scholarship activity is required through development of a clinical quality improvement project. Many residents also take advantage of the opportunity to present at the Delaware Academy of Family Physicians Scientific Assembly, or at other regional or national conferences.

      Third Year Rotation Schedule

      • Sports Medicine – 4 weeks
      • Night Float – 4 weeks
      • Inpatient Medicine (with the hospitalist group) – 8 weeks
      • Inpatient Family Medicine Service (with our own faculty) – 8 weeks 
      • Nephrology/Vascular – 4 weeks
      • Pediatric Outpatient – 4 weeks (OFF SITE)
      • Practice Management/Targeted Inpatient – 4 weeks
      • Emphasis Track (electives focusing on the type of practice you will join, or areas of medical knowledge you wish to pursue further) – 8 weeks
      • Elective – 4 weeks
      • Community Medicine/Occupational Health (ON and OFF SITE) – 4 weeks