Department of Medicine – Medical Education and Research Update

The residents will also participate in a new care delivery model- the Patient Centered Medical Home. This model will allow primary care physicians to utilize the best evidence based medicine and best practices to care for their patients. The patients will have care teams headed by the physicians who are assisted by all members of the medical team. The patients' records will all be available through the EMR and accessible through HealthLink.

Two interns started the new Primary Care program on July 1, 2010. The plan is to rapidly expand the program with funding that is being made available through the recent Health Care Reform Bill. The residents will also participate in research projects that will ultimately improve the care offered to their patients.

The Internal Medicine Residency continues to train excellent physicians. The program boasts a 100% pass rate on the Internal Medicine boards for the last 5 years and has recently achieved an impressive 6-year accreditation. This June, four residents participated in the ABIM sub-specialty fellowship match and all were successful. These residents obtained fellowships in Nephrology (2) and Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine (2) at excellent institutions including the University of Connecticut, Brown University, St. Louis University and at our new academic affiliate- the University of Vermont.

Our own Cardiology Fellowship, under the guidance of Dr. Mark Warshofsky, continues to be an excellent program, receiving a five-year accreditation. One of the recent graduates went on to a second fellowship and one entered private practice. This year's match was also very successful for our program, culminating in the securing of two excellent fellows.

Lastly, the house staff, attending staff and nursing staff should be commended for their research endeavors. Presently there are at least forty ongoing research projects being conducted by members of the department. These studies are both industry sponsored and original research. Many of these projects were presented at the recent Belsky Research Conference. Several of these research projects have resulted in recent publications. The research department has been most helpful in assisting Dr. Messina in the development of a research curriculum for the house staff and assisting with the expansion of our research agenda within the department.