Program Description
Program Mission Statement
Our mission is to train physicians of diverse experiences and talents to become agents of change, enabling our graduates to transform their communities by providing compassionate, comprehensive, evidence-based care for patients of all needs and backgrounds in the Rio Grande Valley and beyond.
Program Vision
Our goals include:
- Strike the ideal individualized balance of clinical autonomy and structured learning for each resident
- Promote the development of academic medicine within the community
- Support, guide and educate residents to provide ethical and patient-centered care and fulfill professional obligations
- Nurture residents to become lifelong learners
- Become actively engaged with the community that we serve. Program objectives include:
- To perform a thorough and efficient history and physical examination and to effectively communicate patient care information to patients and colleagues in a logical, organized and thorough manner
- To use laboratory data to support the findings on physical examination
- To appropriately interpret diagnostic test results and determine how the results influence patient management
- To formulate and carry out plans of care based on patient's medical and psychosocial assessment
- To develop a safe, cost-effective and evidence/outcomes based approach to patient evaluation and management plans
- To seek appropriate consultation from specialty physicians.
- To develop effective communication and interpersonal skills with patients and colleagues
- To coordinate comprehensive patient care
- To demonstrate competence and safe performance of American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) procedures including advanced cardiac life support, arterial and venous blood sampling, pap smear and endocervical culture, and placement of a peripheral venous line.
- To understand medical-ethical principles and legal issues (advance directives, informed consent, confidentiality, professional-patient relationship) and their application in the practice of clinical medicine
- To develop the knowledge of the principles of nutritional assessment and intervention
- To assess and manage occupational and environmental health problems and promote interventions to decrease risk
- To use and critically review the medical literature
- To incorporate the use of computers in clinical practice
- To review deaths and correlate with clinical presentation
- To understand the unique health care needs, presentations, key management strategies and the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to specific patient populations (i.e. geriatrics, adolescents)
- To become familiar with practice management issues (i.e. time management, office organization and record keeping), types of practice settings and/or corporations, types of insurance, use of staff, assessing patient satisfaction, and continuous quality improvement issues.
Program Highlights
- 13 Categorical positions are available each year
- Recently Accredited program,
- Primary site, Rio Grande Regional Hospital, has been serving the Rio Grande Valley for more than 30 years.