Educational Highlights

Block Months

First year block month is dedicated to clinical orientation. Second year block months focus on procedural skill development and practice management, in addition to developing skills in the family medicine clinic.

Spanish Language and Community Medicine Track

Residents who match into this track will be centered at the Ypsilanti Health Center for their primary clinic site, where a substantial proportion of the patients are Spanish speaking. Applicants to this track will be expected to have Spanish fluency or advanced Spanish speaking skills, and can expect that between 20-50% of their patient panel will be Spanish speaking. In addition to the clinical experience in Ypsilanti, applicants on this track will have the opportunity to work on community projects with the Latinx population in Southeast Michigan area.

Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS)

Two female resident physicians in masks point at an ultrasound screen. One resident physician lies on a hospital bed and also looks at the screen

Point-of-care Ultrasound (POCUS) education is growing every year in our residency. We have three half days of ultrasound training for interns starting in their first month of residency. Second and third year residents get more advanced hands-on training, at least a couple half days per year. There are quarterly POCUS didactics for all residents and elective experiences available in POCUS. Those who want more can participate in the ultrasound track, which aims to obtain 300+ ultrasounds and POCUS credentialing for PGY3 residents. We have Mindray TE-7 ultrasound machines at both residency clinic sites. The residency’s machines archive images to Q-Path, our cloud storage system that allows for quality assurance. With questions, contact the department’s POCUS director, Nicoll Capizzano, M.D., who completed the Advanced Ultrasound Fellowship at the University of Michigan, or Scott Kelley, M.D., assistant director of POCUS.

Simulation Center

Simulation Center

Our Clinical Simulation Center is on-site at the University of Michigan Health System campus. The curriculum includes sessions on ACLS and rapid sequence intubation, as well as procedures including LP, paracentesis and colonoscopy. The center is staffed by family medicine faculty.

Outpatient Procedures

The program offers excellent training in office-based procedures through dedicated procedures clinics. All teaching is one-on-one with family medicine faculty who have special interest in procedural training.

Surgery

Surgery rotations are specifically designed to train residents in surgical assessment and procedural techniques. Private and University of Michigan surgeons exclusively teach the family medicine residents at Chelsea Community Hospital. Residents participate directly in the surgery clinic and the operating room as the first assistant to the surgeon on all cases.

Community Outreach

Our residents are involved in numerous community outreach programs. We staff a migrant farm worker's clinic with our attendings from June to October. The Migrant Clinic provides care to migrant workers employed at farms around Manchester, Michigan.

Curriculum Procedures
Community Outreach

Working in a school-based clinic and at a clinic for underserved adolescents and children is also well established as part of our curriculum. We staff a school-based health enter at Lincoln Middle School. The health center welcomes students on a walk-in basis, and provides health education, primary health care, and referrals, in collaboration with parents and the primary care physician. Preventive health care and holistic well-being are emphasized. The Corner Health Center was created to address Ypsilanti's high teen pregnancy rate and the health care needs of young families. Located downtown, it provides holistic, comprehensive health care and social services for people between 12 and 21 and their children, including prenatal care.

The Latino Health Clinic provides specialized medical care to Spanish speaking patients from the Ypsilanti Health Center's population. The clinic is staffed by Spanish-speaking faculty and/or residents or with the presence of an interpreter. Our residents also organize and provide coverage with attendings for sports physicals to students at several community middle and high schools, doing health screening, health education, and encouraging physical activity. In addition, we have the opportunity to work with attendings in coverage of high school, University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University sporting events.

Our faculty provide prenatel care at Packard Health. The center has two locations in Ann Arbor and is a non-profit primary care medical facility. Ranked among the top third of primary care practices in Michigan and designated as a Patient-Centered Medical Home by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, packard Health has an unwavering commitment to ensuring medical access for everyone. Packard Health welcomes both insured and uninsured patients and believes that everyone deserves quality medical care - all ages, all stages of health, regardless of economic status.

Resident Wellness

The residency program strongly endorses and supports a longitudinal curriculum for resident well-being. Residents are exposed to numerous models for caring for physical, emotional, spiritual, familial and social needs, and residents develop a Wellness Plan to guide them through the residency and into their careers. There is a monthly Wellness Group session and a number of didactic and experiential presentations throughout the three years of residency. Some of the experiential workshops include Cognitive and Behavioral Models of Relaxation, Deep Breathing and Meditation Techniques, Tai Chi Workshops, Strength and Resistance training, Models of Stress and Wellness, and Outdoor Team Building Exercises.