Curriculum: A Didactic Component

Core Lecture Series

The Internal Medicine Residency provides multiple didactic conferences for information mastery. These multifaceted conferences provide an interesting and diverse experience that complements the clinical training at LVHN. The didactic conferences are scheduled every day from noon to 1pm and on Wednesdays from 12 pm to 3 pm (protected education time). Additionally, we have morning report style conferences twice weekly.

Our noon conferences are themed each month around a specialty topic of focus. Subspecialists and fellows deliver content on their field of expertise Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. Our Department holds Grand Rounds and QI Forums every Tuesday. Wednesdays are our extended day of learning with most content delivered by our residents. Residents will present the following conferences throughout their training:

• Journal Club
• Morbidity and Mortality Case Reports
• Clinicopathologic Conference (CPC)
• Clinical Case Updates
• Board Review

There also is a supplemental ambulatory didactic series scheduled for each cohort on their ambulatory week. This session occurs at Lehigh Valley Hospital–17th Street and consists of a three-year rotating cycle of common ambulatory topics.

Board Preparation

LVHN continues to maintain a high board pass rate on the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) certification exam. The residency utilizes a few methods to help prepare our residents for the board examination, including the following:

• American College of Physician’s MKSAP books (provided during internship year).
• Monthly Board Review Lectures organized by the chief medical resident and core faculty members.
• K2P Knowledge-2-Practice curriculum and questions with monthly assigned standards. (annual subscription provided).
• The annual ACP in-service training exam is taken each year by the residents, assessing current knowledge and offering analysis for needed areas of improvement.

PGY-3 residents are also offered a two-week block of study time at the end of their residency for board review and preparation.

Survivor Series and Procedure Course

Special content is delivered during the early part of the academic year as we on-board new interns and transition interns into senior residents. We hold a 30-day Survivor Series where senior residents deliver fundamental concepts to our new intern class. Our senior residents also get coached by faculty on effective leadership strategies as they transition into senior roles. Additionally, we hold a procedure course for each intern within the first five weeks of joining our Network. We deliver content at our Simulation Center and then work one-on-one with our new interns on the proper technique and approach for the following procedures:

• Central line placement
• Thoracentesis
• Paracentesis 
• Lumbar Puncture
• Arthrocentesis 

The course is the first step in meeting requirements for procedure certification. In addition to procedural competency, the course is designed to allow new physicians to have as much simulated experience as possible to become comfortable with a procedure before performing them on patients. All PGY-1 residents also go through the OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Encounter) program as they join our program, which enables self-assessment and guidance on the principles of agenda setting and patient-centered care. It has a special focus on how to break bad news to patients and families as well as the approach to end-of-life discussions.

Procedure Refresher Course and POCUS Curriculum

Senior residents are brought back to our Simulation Center to review and practice procedural techniques in small groups to continue to foster competency in this domain. Additionally, a point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) curriculum has been developed by a core group of internists, cardiologists and critical care attendings.

Osteopathic Education

For the osteopathic physicians completing their training, we also host monthly OMM seminars that include topics that range from the OMM exam overview to specific evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of each anatomical group.