The Department of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago has a long tradition of providing thorough and comprehensive training in Internal Medicine. Our goal is to prepare future internists for a wide range of career paths, including careers in academic medicine, primary care and subspecialty clinical practice. We do so with an eye toward the changing health care environment and the increasing demands upon physicians to be both evidence-based and humanistic in their approach to clinical decision-making.

Training occurs at two sites, the University of Illinois Hospital and the Jesse Brown Veterans Administration Hospital. Both provide primary and tertiary care to a large number of patients, many of whom look to the residents as their primary health care providers. Housestaff spend approximately 50% of their time at each site and maintain a continuity outpatient practice at each site. The faculty and all departmental conferences are fully integrated across both institutions.

In both the inpatient and outpatient settings, residents have substantial primary decision-making responsibility and develop strong relationships with their patients. The full-time on-site teaching faculty, the inpatient ward service teaching model, and the outpatient dedicated preceptor model provide optimal supervision and guidance, yet encourage the independent thinking that derives from playing a major role in patient care.
Pulmonary, Crtical Care, and Sleep
The Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine is responsible for a broad range of clinical activities that provide the medical resident with a number of educational/training experiences. The Section directs the Medical Intensive Care Unit at both the University of Illinois Hospital and Jesse Brown VA Medical Center - West Side. Each hospital supports busy consult services, and there is an active UIH lung transplant program. Residents rotating on each service work with a team that includes an attending physician and a fellow. The team has primary care responsibilities in the units and conducts daily rounds (twice daily in the MICUs), with extensive didactic teaching. The consultation service experience also involves training in the performance and interpretation of pulmonary function tests including exercise testing and bronchial challenge. While on the MICU rotation, residents are responsible for ventilator management and cardiovascular monitoring. They perform, under supervision, necessary procedures, such as placing central lines and pulmonary artery catheters.