Internal Medicine Residency Program Curriculum Overview

Our internal medicine curriculum provides general medical care and subspecialty experiences to residents through a mix of primary and tertiary care patients. The curriculum and rotation schedule are designed to give you the flexibility necessary to meet your educational needs. Each teaching team is overseen by one teaching attending who reviews patient care each day with the resident team. Each team is also layered with senior resident supervision. You will note graduated levels of responsibility through your training and a team designed to help support medical decision-making around patient care. 

Throughout your three years of training, residents will build and follow a panel of patients seen at Valley Health Partners Lehigh Valley Physicians Practice at Lehigh Valley Hospital–17th Street in Allentown. This is a core part of your learning experience and a one-week dedicated rotation that residents rotate through every fifth week in our 4:1 rotation model. Additional outpatient experience is gained at our private practice faculty group, LVPG Internal Medicine–3080 Hamilton Boulevard. The core faculty dedicated to these sites provides the foundation to your training experience.  

Subspecialty Rotations 

Training in all the major internal medicine subspecialties is required during the three-year residency. Subspecialty rotations include: 

• Allergy 
• Cardiology 
• Critical care medicine 
• Dermatology 
• Endocrinology 
• Gastroenterology 
• Geriatrics 
• Hematology oncology 
• Hospice and palliative medicine 
• Infectious disease 
• HIV medicine 
• Nephrology 
• Neurology 
• Pulmonary disease 
• Rheumatology 

Elective rotations include: 

• Anesthesiology 
• Dermatology 
• Forensic pathology 
• Nutrition 
• Ophthalmology 
• Physiatry and physical medicine 
• Radiation oncology 
• Radiology 
• Sports medicine 
• Street medicine 
• Toxicology 
• Away electives are also available with program director approval 

Hospital Medicine Services 

Our program offers a diverse hospital medicine experience through two distinct teaching team models: the ECLS teaching teams and traditional hospitalist services. This structure allows residents to experience various approaches to inpatient care, emphasizing medical education, system-based practice and continuity of care. 

ECLS Services (ECLS A and B) 

ECLS services operate on a dedicated 30-bed unit at Lehigh Valley Hospital (LVH)–Cedar Crest, designed to be a focused teaching environment. 

• Each patient is cared for by one of two teaching teams (ECLS A or B), composed of consistent attendings, residents, interns and medical students. 
• Faculty are from LVPG Internal Medicine–3080 Hamilton Boulevard, bringing valuable perspectives from both inpatient and outpatient settings. 
• The unit is structured to: 
  • Foster trainee ownership of patient care and quality outcomes. 
  • Promote strong interdisciplinary collaboration with nurses, case managers and support staff. 
  • Provide a concentrated opportunity to understand systems-based practice. 
• The ECLS model supports a deep sense of responsibility, as the team is dedicated solely to this unit. 

HMS Services (HMS-I and HMS-J) 

In contrast to the ECLS model, HMS services are staffed by hospitalists from the LVH–Cedar Crest department of hospital medicine (DOM). 

• DOM hospitalists follow a 7-days-on/7-days-off schedule, reflecting a more typical hospitalist workflow. 
• Residents on HMS services follow patients from the emergency department through various inpatient settings, including med-surg, med-surg telemetry and low-level patient care floors. 
• HMS-I specifically offers a unique junior attending experience where a senior resident works one-on-one with a hospitalist, simulating the responsibilities of an attending physician. 
• These services: 
  • Highlight hospital-wide patient flow and transitions of care. 
  • Offer broader exposure to different units and hospital systems. 
  • Help residents compare traditional hospitalist roles with more structured teaching-team models like ECLS. 

All residents rotate through both ECLS and HMS services, gaining a well-rounded perspective on inpatient medicine and the various drivers of quality and efficiency in hospital-based care. 

Ambulatory Clinic Model 

Our ambulatory curriculum is structured around a progressive 4:1 rotation schedule, in which residents spend every fifth week immersed in outpatient care. This model allows for protected time in the clinic, free from inpatient duties, and fosters consistency in both patient care and medical education. 

• Every fifth week, a dedicated cohort of residents rotates through the ambulatory practice for a one-week block. 
• These focused weeks strengthen continuity in patient care and allow residents to refine their outpatient skills without competing demands. 

At the heart of the continuity clinic is Valley Health Partners Lehigh Valley Physicians Practice (LVPP), where a committed team of core faculty serves as both educators and clinicians. 

• Faculty members precept resident clinics while also managing their own patient panels. 
• This structure: 
  • Enhances continuity of care for patients. 
  • Strengthens educational continuity for residents. 
  • Encourages meaningful mentorship relationships between faculty and trainees. 

A novel ambulatory curriculum supports our outpatient experience with dedicated educational sessions that go beyond clinical medicine. 

• Didactics focus on: 
  • Health care maintenance and preventive medicine. 
  • Practice management, including billing and coding. 
  • Quality and process improvement initiatives tied to population health. 
• Sessions are facilitated by core teaching attendings embedded at LVPP, ensuring relevance and clinical integration. 

This model promotes a true team-based approach to primary care, in which residents are active participants in improving the clinic’s delivery of care. 

• Residents have led several quality and process improvement initiatives in response to the needs of the community. 
• Residents will develop essential skills in population health, systems-based practice and continuous quality improvement. 
• The overarching goal is to train residents who are prepared to thrive in primary care – particularly within underserved settings – while delivering high-quality, evidence-based care.