The University of Connecticut Internal Medicine Residency Program’s Hospital Medicine Track is a longitudinal educational pathway designed for residents interested in pursuing a career in hospital medicine. The track provides focused clinical experiences, educational activities, mentorship, and opportunities in quality improvement and hospital operations to help residents develop the skills necessary to become effective, efficient, and compassionate hospitalists.
TRACK GOALS
The goal of the Hospital Medicine Track is to prepare residents for the clinical, leadership, and systems-based responsibilities of contemporary hospital medicine.
Residents will develop skills in:
- Providing high-quality, evidence-based inpatient care
- Progressive clinical autonomy and independent decision-making
- Clinical efficiency, prioritization, and workflow management
- Interdisciplinary communication and team leadership
- Safe transitions of care and discharge planning
- Quality improvement and patient safety
- Systems-based practice and hospital operations
- Professional development and career planning
CURRICULUM
The track offers dedicated educational experiences focused on the multidisciplinary practice of hospital medicine. Residents gain exposure to the clinical services and specialized teams that contribute to the care of hospitalized patients. These experiences highlight how hospitalists collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to address patients’ functional, educational, and symptom-management needs and facilitate safe transitions of care.
Examples include:
- Wound Care management
- Physical and Occupational Therapy
- Speech-Language Pathology
- Pain Management
- Stroke and Heart Failure Education
- Acute Inpatient Rehabilitation
POINT-OF-CARE ULTRASOUND
POCUS is an integral component of the Hospital Medicine. Residents have opportunities to acquire and interpret bedside ultrasound images and receive faculty feedback to develop practical POCUS skills that can be incorporated into inpatient clinical decision-making.
QUALITY IMPROVEMENT AND SCHOLARSHIP
The track provides opportunities to identify clinical and systems-based problems, develop quality improvement initiatives, evaluate outcomes, and share their work through scholarly presentations.
MENTORSHIP AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT
Residents in the Hospital Medicine Track work with hospital medicine faculty mentors who can provide guidance in clinical development, quality improvement, scholarship, leadership, and career planning.
ELECTIVE Requirements
Residents enrolled in this track will need to complete electives that complement their hospital medicine training and individual career interests.
The recommended areas include:
- Infectious Disease
- Nephrology
- Palliative Care
- Point-of-Care Ultrasound (optional dedicated elective available)
ELIGIBILITY
The Hospital Medicine Track is available to Internal Medicine residents during the PGY-2 and PGY-3 years.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Medhat Ghaly, MD FACP
Director, Hospital Medicine Track
ghaly@uchc.edu