Curriculum

The University of Rochester/Highland Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program balances the care of the acutely ill with preventive health maintenance for outpatients, including the chronically ill. In the first year, residents concentrate mostly on inpatient services in hospital medicine, pediatrics, critical care, and obstetrics. Hospital medicine teams are comprised solely of family medicine residents while other teams integrate family medicine residents with specialty residents.

Outpatient rotations in the first year include Orthopedics, Surgery, Dermatology, and Adult and Pediatric Emergency Medicine. New in 2024, we expanded intern orientation from one week to three weeks to help new residents acclimate to our community and system. We also created a two-week Ambulatory Family Medicine rotation that pairs residents with multidisciplinary clinic team members, includes small-group learning on key outpatient topics, and provides expanded clinic time to apply new learning.

In the second year, residents begin with Community Medicine. During this rotation, the entire class is freed from inpatient responsibilities and joins together to learn about community resources that support patients and families. The class also develops a project to improve the communities we serve. This year includes the four-month Psychosocial Medicine curriculum, where residents learn the biopsychosocial model of care and build skills in CBT, motivational interviewing, and problem-solving therapy. Residents continue increasing clinic volume while reflecting on their clinical practice and developing their family-centered care approach.

In the third year, inpatient experiences shift toward supervisory and teaching roles in hospital medicine. Most of the year focuses on outpatient pediatrics, geriatrics, orthopedics, gynecology, and electives. The Jeopardy rotation provides sick-call coverage to help protect residents’ elective and continuity clinic experiences.

Throughout all three years, residents spend increasing sessions each week in their  ambulatory office sites, managing growing patient panels and continuity care between visits.

Rotation Schedule

Rotation schedule by postgraduate year and duration.