Residency Program

Conferences and Rounds

Ambulatory Education Conference
This conference is held once weekly, facilitated by an ambulatory preceptor with a resident presenter. All residents assigned to ambulatory block rotations attend. It immediately follows evidence-based medicine. The topics are chosen by the residents, generally based upon the patients that they have seen in the outpatient setting. Topics may include general review, evidence-based approach to a common problem, multiple cases with similar diagnosis but different approaches to evaluation. We encourage the conference to be interactive although we do expect that it will be presented in a powerpoint format. The groups who attend are small, usually 10 residents and 1 faculty person. The conversations tend to be lively, and quite interactive.

Bedside Teaching Rounds
Each inpatient medical team has bedside teaching rounds conducted by the management attending for each team. These generally occur three to four days a week for approximately four and one-half hours in total per week. Bedside teaching rounds include discussion of history and physical examination skills as well as other aspects of evidence based medicine. These sessions include residents presenting patients at the bedside and discussion of the differential diagnosis and management of these patients.

City Wide Grand Rounds
City Wide Grand Rounds are conducted quarterly and involve three or four talks on a scheme, such as newer aspects of cardiology or gastroenterology or topic related to medical education. These are attended by housestaff, attendings, and the private Internal Medicine community in Buffalo. Refreshments are served after these conferences. Core Curriculum Master Session The Core Curriculum Master Sessions were created by the University at Buffalo GME in response to the new ACGME Institutional Requirement. Every resident in the residency program (except preliminary interns) must attend each of the four master sessions once during the program. The Core Curriculum Master Session series provides an appropriate introduction to the following topic areas:

• Communication skills – Ethics Master Session
• Research design and statistics – Research and Statistics Master Session
• Critical review of the literature necessary for acquiring sills for lifelong learning – Evidence Based Medicine and Population Based Medicine Master Sessions

Hospital Grand Rounds
At each hospital, there is a weekly conference with lunch provided for all housestaff and faculty on topics related to General Internal Medicine. At the beginning of the year, the conference series begins with common medical emergencies and includes evidence based medicine and critical evaluation of medical literature.

Journal Club Meeting
The purpose of Journal Club is to provide interns and residents with a forum for critical appraisal of the medical literature. Journal Club Meetings are held once every module at the three major hospitals (ECMC, BGH, and VAMC). Residents in their second or third year of training are encouraged to independently evaluate a chosen article that is pertinent to patient care. They are then expected to present the article and the evaluation to a group of their peers in an interactive format. The other residents in attendance are expected to be prepared to discuss the article being presented by their colleague. Residents are encouraged to invite faculty. Attendance is mandatory for all residents except those on nights or in a unit. This is a requirement of the ACGME and of this residency program.

Morning Conference Hospital Morning Reports occur five days a week at each of the hospitals and involve presentation by residents, generally patients seen on the inpatient medical services. These are also attended by selected faculty members and discussions ensue regarding the diagnosis and management of common medical problems. Research Conference The Department of Medicine conducts a monthly Research Conference where members of the faculty present their research studies and give a discussion on the significance and the various aspects of these topics. These are attended by the medicine faculty and attendance by residents and fellows are strongly encouraged. This conference gives the entire department the opportunity to understand the various aspects of research being conducted in the Department of Medicine.

Sign-Out Rounds Each day, sign-out rounds occur for inpatient floor rotations where teams discuss the management and sign-out aspects of the various inpatients. These are supervised by the Chief Medical Residents. Subspecialty Conferences Each of the subspecialty unit has regularly scheduled conferences. Residents taking the subspecialty elective attend and may present at these conferences which are also open to any other residents whose schedule allows.