Family Medince Residency Program

Standard Curriculum
The standard curriculum, our most popular, is designed to prepare the resident for the challenges of practice in a variety of settings. The key to excellent resident education is direct patient management. Our philosophy is to allow residents to manage patients under the guidance of experienced physicians. The core clinical rotations of adult medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics will provide plentiful and varied experience such that our graduates are very comfortable managing the most challenging patients.

Rural Curriculum
Memorial has a rural focus curriculum that any resident who matches in the program may elect to take. This curriculum is intended for residents who know early in their training that they want to practice in a rural setting. One block in each of the three years is spent at a rural site. Years two and three allow the resident to select a site remote from the South Bend area. Many residents use this as an opportunity to work at a site in the region of the country where they hope to practice in the future. Modifications of the Standard Curriculum to accommodate the three blocks of the rural rotations include moving one block of orthopedics from the first year to the third year and limiting other third year electives to three and one half blocks.

Health Services Management Curriculum
This innovative 4 year curriculum not only prepares residents for a career in the practice of family medicine, but for a leadership role in health care administration and policy-making. The resident spends six months spread over years two through four, with the administrative and management team of Memorial Hospital and Health System rotating through departments concerned with finances, quality, information systems, corporate compliance, and much more. In addition, residents in this curriculum usually spend one evening a week during the academic year taking classes at Indiana University South Bend to fulfill the requirements for a Masters Degree in Public Affairs with a concentration in Health Systems Management. Courses in the curriculum include emphasis on public management, health information systems, the impact of legislation and tort law on health care delivery and health planning as well as many other areas. This curriculum is available to a limited number of residents.

Sports Medicine Focus Curriculum
Beginning in the PGY-1 curriculum there will be longitudinal components including high school training room and event coverage, preparticipation exams, research, and local, national, and international special events.

Sports Medicine Education & Fellowship
Our Sports Medicine Fellowship, offered as a joint venture between the Family Medicine Residency Programs of Memorial Hospital and St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center, accepted its first two fellows in 1999. Dr. Mark Lavallee, Memorial's Co-Director of the fellowship, plays an active, hands-on teaching role in both the residency and the fellowship. He mentors residents interested in sports medicine fellowship training, with 100% of Memorial residents who have applied for fellowship training securing spots. All of our residents benefit from the strong sports medicine training woven into the residency curriculum. Summer of 2005, Dr. Kevin McAward, associate director, joined Dr. Lavallee at the Memorial Sports Medicine Institute. He in addition to practicing both Family Medicine and Sports Medicine, he enjoys working with the residents and medical students.

Obstetrics Education & Fellowship
Our obstetrics fellowship grew out of interest in offering additional training in high risk obstetrics and advanced surgical skills to trainees who desire to work in rural and under served areas. Our residency program has a long tradition of offering an excellent obstetrics experience within the framework of our standard residency curriculum. Prior to our fellowship program, graduates of the residency went on to incorporate obstetrics into their practices and utilize their skills in domestic and international settings. We recognize that each trainee has different needs, and while some will obtain the skills they need during residency, some desire a concentrated obstetrics experience to launch their careers. We are dedicated to facilitating each individual's needs.

Memorial's obstetrics experience is multifaceted, including a strong continuity clinic experience and inpatient obstetrics rotations. We have a strong support staff for our continuity patients including an Obstetrics Nurse Coordinator and prenatal class educators. Prenatal classes, obstetrical ultrasound, and non-stress testing are all offered on-site at the E. Blair Warner Family Medicine Center. Two of our Family Medicine faculty incorporate maternity care into their practices. A group of community obstetricians precept regularly in the clinic and supervise deliveries.

Memorial Hospital offers a Family Medicine friendly training environment with state of the art in-patient obstetrics care with a separate high-risk antenatal unit, a child-birth unit consisting of spacious labor and delivery suites, centralized electronic fetal monitoring, and two mother-baby units for postpartum care which support breast-feeding.

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About Memorial Hospital & Health System
Memorial Hospital of South Bend traces its roots back to 1894, when the Women's Home Missionary Societies of the Methodist Churches of South Bend founded Epworth Hospital and Training School. By 1901, the hospital had grown from three patient beds in a converted house to a 50-bed "modern" hospital - complete with a maternity room and an operating room - in the first building in South Bend designed specifically as a hospital.

The name officially changed in 1945 to Memorial Hospital of South Bend. Today, Memorial serves as a 526-bed regional referral center for cardiac, cancer, childbirth, emergency medicine and rehabilitation services.

Memorial Health System, Inc., established in 1984, serves as the parent company of Memorial Hospital, as well as Memorial Health Foundation, Memorial Home Care and Memorial Medical Group. These organizations provide a variety of health care services to the community, ranging from inpatient care to home care, medical supplies, pharmacy services and occupational health services, as well as primary care physicians and specialists.

This information is reposted with thanks to Memorial Hospital.