Primary Care Residency Program
Ambulatory Education
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While the majority of healthcare delivery occurs in ambulatory settings, internal medicine residency training remains largely hospital-based. In addition, outdated rotation structures betray the priority of inpatient care over training in outpatient settings. The Yale Primary Care Program is committed to providing expanded and uncompromised ambulatory training. Innovative curricula ensure continuity of care with patients, continuous relationships with supervising faculty, diverse clinical settings, and experiential learning with graduated autonomy. In developing ambulatory experiences, we are guided by the insights of medical education science, a continual evaluation of our work, local community health care needs, and residents’ feedback and individual goals. Our curriculum's broad objectives reflect the knowledge, skills, behaviors, and attitudes exemplified in effective primary care physicians. In addition, we have developed curricula to cover newer areas of proficiency for internists, including quality improvement, disease management, and evidence-based practice, shared decision-making, and palliative care.
The residents’ weekly continuity clinic and yearly 3-month ambulatory block rotations, represent the cornerstones of their ambulatory experience. While the residents see their continuity patients in a hospital based clinic, the ambulatory block takes them into a variety of community settings. In addition, about half of the activities on elective rotations take place in outpatient venues. A full-time Associate Program Director for Ambulatory Education, Dr. Michael Green, coordinates the overall ambulatory medicine curriculum.