Ambulatory Education

"The outpatient endocrinology clinics have given me the opportunity to work with many different attendings and to learn from experts in their particular area of interest. In addition, I have seen fascinating in-patient consults, and I have had in depth exposure to post-operative glucose management by working with the glucose management service."

Sara Berg, PGY3

To read more about Sara, click here...

Ambulatory training has long been a highlight of the program.

Northwestern residents care for a great variety of outpatients in general medicine. Each PGY1 trainee begins a half-day general medicine continuity clinic at either Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation (NMFF) or the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center. At the beginning of the second year each resident adds a second half day of continuity clinic. Exposure to the both clinic settings provides experience in adapting to various systems of care, as well as the opportunity to manage an enormous variety of patients. Fulltime faculty members provide long-term education and follow-up. Locations available for other continuity clinic opportunities include three community centers that provide care to underserved populations in Chicago. These locations remain popular and are profound learning experiences. Spanish language skills are desirable in these locations but are not necessary.

In addition to continuity clinics, residents have other ambulatory experiences including rotations in the Northwestern Memorial Emergency Room, the VA’s outpatient unit, and an Ambulatory Block rotation. This 4 to 8-week rotation consists of individually scheduled clinics chosen from among the various medical subspecialties as well as areas outside of internal medicine (e.g., dermatology, orthopedics, etc.). This latter rotation is particularly useful for trainees planning a career in general internal medicine with an emphasis on ambulatory primary care. Outpatient clinics in the medical subspecialties are also included as part of most consult elective rotations. Several outpatient based rotations are available in subspecialties such as hematology-oncology, cardiology and pulmonary in addition to traditional consultation rotations.

 Residents see patients at Northwestern Memorial Faculty Foundation, Jesse Brown VA Medical Center and Lakeside VA Outpatient Clinic.