Residents start every morning with table rounds before rounding on the new patients with the attendings
Curriculum
Ascension Saint Joseph - Chicago's program curriculum is constantly evolving based on input from our residents. We aim to improve our training experiences to meet the future needs of our residents as well their patients. We offer a comprehensive curriculum designed to fully prepare our residents for all aspects of family practice.
Clinical rotations
| FIRST YEAR | |
| Inpatient Family Medicine Service | 6 months |
| Pediatrics — Ambulatory Clinic and Inpatient Newborn Rounding | 2 months |
| Obstetrics | 2 months |
| Emergency Medicine – St. Joseph | 1 month |
| Cardiology | 1 month |
| SECOND YEAR | |
| Family Medicine IP Service | 2 months |
| Maternal Child Health – Inpatient OB and Newborn Rounding, Ambulatory Pediatrics Clinic | 1 months |
| Pediatrics — Inpatient (Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago | 1 months |
| Behavioral & Community Medicine | 1 month |
| Orthopedics / Sports Medicine | 1 month |
| Intensive Care Unit | 1 month |
| Health System Management/Outpatient Continuity Clinic | 1 month |
| Dermatology/Surgery | 1 month |
| Elective | 3 month |
| THIRD YEAR | |
| Inpatient Family Medicine Service | 2 months |
| Outpatient Continuity Clinic | 1 months |
| Pediatrics – Emergency Medicine (Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago) | 1 months |
| Geriatric Medicine | 1 month |
| Urology/Gynecology | 1 month |
| Emergency Medicine – St. Joseph | 1 month |
| Pediatrics – Outpatient | 1 month |
| Community Medicine | 1 month |
| Electives | 3 month |
Ascension Medical Group Illinois Primary Care Chicago
Ascension Saint Joseph - Chicago family medicine residents spend three years building their patient panel at Ascension Medical Group Illinois Primary Care Chicago, located at 711 W. North Ave. It is located near two stops on the "L" train, two main bus stops and has parking for patients. This location brings patients from all over Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. Patients truly identify the resident as their doctor and they build a relationship over the course of their tenure.
During the first year, residents spend 1–2 half-days per week in Ascension Medical Group Illinois Primary Care Chicago. Residents spend 3–4 half-days during the second year, and 4–5 half days during the third year.Behavioral science
Behavioral Science is longitudinally integrated throughout the residency, including a one-month intensive behavioral and community medicine rotation. This rotation is dedicated to skill building in the assessment and treatment of mental health and substance abuse issues, crisis intervention and outpatient psychotherapy with children, adolescents, adults and families. Residents participate as co-therapists in Counseling Clinic where they become adept at providing evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) along with motivational interviewing. They work in our Harborview Recovery Center practicing addiction medicine. Additionally, they participate in our intensive outpatient psychiatry program, go on home visits with faculty and learn crisis intervention skills with the crisis/psyc team in the Ascension Saint Joseph - Chicago Emergency Department.
Tracks
Residents have the opportunity to customize their residency curriculum with one or multiple of the following tracks. Tracks include longitudinal clinical activity, elective experiences, didactics, and scholarly activity. Residents are also able to collaborate with faculty to design their own track.
- Women's Health
- Osteopathic Manipulation Medicine (OMM)
- Faculty Development
- Advocacy
- LGBTQIA+/HIV
- Sports Medicine
Electives
A number of elective experiences are available for residents, depending on personal interests and career goals. For most, emphasis is placed on practical office application while some review basic procedures of a given medical discipline.
Elective programs
- Adolescent Medicine
- Addiction Medicine
- Allergy-Immunology
- Cardiology
- Clinical Research
- Dermatology
- Endocrinology
- Family Planning
- Gastroenterology
- Geriatrics
- Headache Management
- Hematology
- Infectious Disease
- Integrative Medicine
- LGBTQ Care
- Neonatal Intensive Care
- Nephrology
- Oncology
- Ophthalmology
- Pain Management
- Pulmonary/Sleep Medicine
- Rehabilitative Medicine
- Sports Medicine & Orthopedics
- Weight Management
Curriculum highlights
Didactic experience
Four hours of protected academic time are set aside each week on Wednesdays from 1 to 5 pm. Attendance is mandatory for all family medicine residents. All family medicine residents are excused from their electives and other rotations outside the department so that they may attend the didactic training sessions. Those on vacation and post-call are excused.
Didactic topics
- Practice Management
- Geriatrics Curriculum
- Pediatrics Didactics
- Behavioral Science Curriculum
- Subspeciality Lecture Topics
- Monthly Resident Research — Evidence-Based Medicine Journal Critique and Primary Care Updates
- Procedure Labs: Point of Care Ultrasound, Women's Health, Skin Procedures
- Obstetrics Curriculum, including monthly chart review
- HIV/LGBTQ+ Curriculum
Procedures
Procedural training is integrated throughout the residency experience in the continuity clinic, emergency department, obstetrics rotations, and dedicated procedure workshops. Under faculty supervision, residents develop practical, hands-on skills while learning sterile technique, pain management, aftercare, and the recognition and management of potential complications.
Outpatient and Office-Based Procedures:
- Shave, punch, and excisional skin biopsies
- Cryotherapy of common skin lesions
- Incision and drainage of abscesses
- Cyst removal and management
- Toenail removal and treatment of ingrown nails
- Laceration repair and wound care
- Foreign-body removal
- Joint and bursa aspiration and injection
- Trigger-point injections
- Splinting and casting
- Point-of-care ultrasound
Women's Health and Reproductive Procedures:
- Cervical cancer screening and Pap testing
- Intrauterine device (IUD) insertion and removal
- Contraceptive implant insertion and removal
- Endometrial biopsy
- Colposcopy
- Vulvar biopsy
- Evaluation and management of Bartholin gland cysts and abscesses
- Early pregnancy evaluation
- Obstetric ultrasound
- Vaginal delivery and perineal laceration repair
Residents can pursue additional procedural experience based on their individual interests, career goals, and anticipated scope of practice.
Resident research is strongly supported and encouraged 
Evidenced-based teaching & scholarly activity
Our teaching comes from an evidence-based approach both in the inpatient and outpatient setting. Each resident will participate in a quality improvement project and scholarly activities during their time as a resident.
Residents are assisted in completing a scholarly research project, which they are then encouraged to publish and or present, with support provided for conference presentations and awards offered for Outstanding Research at the annual hospitalwide Ascension Saint Joseph - Chicago Resident Research Day. Our monthly resident research meetings are not just a journal club, but are designed to teach physicians to critically analyze and evaluate the latest findings in the medical literature. Our faculty is actively engaged in scholarship, presenting at national conferences, and preparing publications — with many of our faculty authoring chapters in the 5-Minute Clinical Consult each year.
Ascension Saint Joseph - Chicago Research Day 2018
Ascension Saint Joseph - Chicago's family medicine department is one of the hospital's oldest, and has sponsored the Family Medicine Residency Program since 1972. It is an established and well-funded part of the hospital. We have an academic affiliation with The University of Illinois College of Medicine. As a resident, you will have opportunities to interact with, teach and mentor UIC medical students. Our rich environment of scholarship and educational teamwork will facilitate your growth and development as a family physician.
Our pediatric attendings will find any opportunity to teach
Outstanding Pediatric Training
Strong pediatric training is yet another unique strength of our program. Three board-certified pediatricians are members of our departmental faculty, offering a comprehensive pediatric expertise academically and clinically to our residency education, an invaluable asset not offered by many programs. Our institution does not include a pediatric residency program; as such, our family medicine residents are actively involved in newborn inpatient care as well as at Laboure Clinic, our largely underserved outpatient pediatric clinic. Additionally, our residents participate in a pediatric emergency medicine rotation and an inpatient pediatric rotation at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.
Dr. Wally on a medical mission trip to Peru with Global Health Ministries
Family Medicine Teaching Service
At heart, Ascension Saint Joseph - Chicago is still the community hospital its founders envisioned in 1868, where primary care doctors still function as the quarterbacks of patient care, with a highly talented group of specialists to enlist when necessary. Our inpatient family medicine teaching service consists of members of the Department of Family Medicine in addition to hospitalists. Patients are admitted, followed by and discharged back to the care of their family physicians. The senior and junior residents on service are all family medicine residents. At Ascension Saint Joseph - Chicago, you will learn inpatient care from the same physicians who teach you outpatient care — our own faculty who firmly believe in the family-centered approach to healing.