Primary Care Track

About the Program

The University of Missouri-Kansas City Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Track began in July 2001 with three third-year residents selected from residents within the UMKC program. During the second year of the track, plans are to allocate four second- or third-year resident positions to the Primary Care Track, increasing the total complement to six or seven residents. The decision to enter the primary care track is made in the spring of the first year of training. Residents enter the primary care track by matching into the categorical medicine program.

A continuity firm system is used, and residents’ practice schedules mirror the activities of a general internist. With this method, residents see patients in the hospital, but the majority of their learning takes place at ambulatory care sites, including a nursing home. Each primary care internal medicine resident will become an integral part of a team of community-based general internists. In this general internal medicine clinic, residents see continuity patients and are treated as a junior partner. There are a variety of rotations for which curricula have been developed, including genetic counseling, geriatrics and gynecology.

A practice management curriculum focusing on managed care will include topics such as "The Fundamental Aspects of Organizational Theory," and "The Sociology of Healthcare — comparing the health systems of different nations/communities." Each resident’s managed care patients will be profiled and used as formative and summative evaluation during the year. Each PGY-3 resident is responsible for selecting and implementing a practice guideline into the primary care practice as a part of his or her management curriculum. The resident will be responsible for staff training, including physician/resident colleagues.

Each primary care resident also participates in a home care/nursing home curriculum. Nursing home patients will be assigned to each PGY-2 resident who will see patients under faculty supervision. In the medical informatics curriculum, residents learn to retrieve information quickly through portable computing devices. Finally, residents participate in a weekly primary care based teaching conference that utilizes an evidence-based medicine format lead by Dr. Beasley and the other primary care faculty.

PCT Core Curriculum

I. General Medicine 8 months

II. Medicine Consults 1 month

III. Subspecialties 15 months