Who We Are
Overview of the UCLA Family Practice Residency Program
Family Medicine is a specialty which has flourished because of its tolerance for a latitude of practice styles. Many excellent Family Medicine residency programs exist in the country, yet differ in important philosophical, educational or practice styles. The following are some of the salient features which distinguish the UCLA Family Practice Residency Program.
Although University sponsored, the UCLA residency training program offers a unique education experience in that it is based at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center, a community-based teaching hospital, and involves required rotations at UCLA Medical Center - a university academic medical center, and Olive View/UCLA Medical Center, a public teaching hospital operated by LA County with a mandate to serve the underserved.
The curricula consist of 25 required core rotations at these 3 institutions. The program is divided into 2 tracks based on the family health center - either Les Kelley in Santa Monica or Mid Valley in the San Fernando Valley - that the resident selects as his/her continuity site. The goal of both tracks is to educate high quality family physicians. Although there is a large overlap and commonality between the two tracks, the Les Kelley track is more likely to produce clinicians for the broader community while the Mid Valley track will concentrate on urban, underserved populations and policy issues linked to our fellowships.
Family Medicine patients admitted to the Santa Monica/UCLA Medical Center are under the care of the UCLA Family Medicine inpatient service. This is a service to which family medicine faculty and residents admit and write the orders for patients on the following wards: medicine, ICU, CCU Pediatrics, nursery, and obstetrics.
All Family Medicine residents receive ACLS, BCLS, Neonatal and PALS training/certification during orientation, sponsored by the UCLA Medical Center. Housestaff are required to maintain current ACLS and BCLS certifications.
Obstetrics is a continuing part of each resident's individual practice within the program. Some urban family medicine programs do not view obstetrics as an integral part of their residents' anticipated practices. Since UCLA Family Medicine is committed to obstetrical services, all residents must be competent in this area when they cover the inpatient service during their residency. Elective experiences are available for additional training.
An effective physician is dedicated to lifelong education and inner growth. Too frequently, traditional training programs have concentrated on high volume and long hours of patient care, while "educational care" for the physician-trainee is neglected. In order to encourage and nurture the whole person, of whom the physician is but a part, we have designed our Family Medicine Education Half Day Curriculum. Every Wednesday morning is devoted to didactic, small group, and Journal Club presentations. This Wednesday morning experience uses a rotating 18 month curriculum covering the core topics in Family Medicine.
The integration of the training program with the Olive View/UCLA Medical Center greatly enhances the diversity of experience enjoyed by our residents. In this facility the residents have the opportunity to care for patients from immigrant and low income families, as 70% of the patients are uninsured. Approximately 20% of resident time is spent at this facility. In contrast to many experiences of county hospitals, the program is proud to be able to maintain a large educational commitment to the residents while at the Olive View/UCLA Medical Center. The inpatient and ambulatory rotations at this Center have an excellent balance between education to the resident and service to the patient. Our Mid Valley Family Health Center serves patients associated with Olive View Medical Center.
Approximately 10% of the curriculum is spent at the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center. During this period of training, residents receive exemplary teaching in the vast array of ambulatory medicine and surgical subspecialty clinics available in this institution, as well as a valuable one-month inpatient surgical experience.
A highly structured curriculum relating to the biopsychosocial aspects of the resident's development is a significant portion of the three year residency. The program and faculty are very committed to this behavioral science component of the curriculum and a high level of audit and evaluation of performance in this area is continuously maintained.
The UCLA Family Medicine Residency is a program which is known for academic excellence blended across inpatient and outpatient care with comprehensive clinical skills. In pursuit of such excellence, the program hopes our residents will learn to become effective teachers of their colleagues, nurses and patients - even if they are not considering careers in academic medicine. To this end, a small independent scholarly project is required and presentations on clinical topics for various conferences throughout the Medical Center and Residency are encouraged.