Internal Medicine Residency

Our General Medicine ward experience is divided into teams devoted to taking care of general medicine patients. Each team rounds with a dedicated supervising teaching hospitalist.

• The Cardiology team rounds daily on cardiology patients with a dedicated cardiology faculty and a cardiology fellow. Most of the cardiology patients are geographically located primarily on one floor.
• Day Float is a separate team dedicated to admitting patients during the day, allowing the General Medicine ward teams to have uninterrupted bedside teaching rounds. The experience acquired during the day float rotation helps improve admitting skills, critical thinking, and efficiency.
• The Night Float team operates as two “mini-teams,” each consisting of an intern and a supervising resident. Their primary role is to admit medical and cardiology patients overnight, and cross-cover the general medicine and cardiology patients for acute issues.

Through our 4+2 block system, two dedicated consecutive weeks of every six weeks will be spent in an ambulatory outpatient setting.

• Continuity Clinic: During the ambulatory block, all categorical residents and interns spend two full days or four half-days per week in their continuity clinic conducted in a primary care office. Each resident is assigned to a primary care clinic preceptor and works closely with that attending physician for three years. The focus is on learning how to manage a broad array of illnesses in an outpatient setting and the most important aspects of primary care, including chronic disease management and preventive care. This opportunity allows the residents to develop a continuous, therapeutic relationship with a panel of general internal medicine patients during the period of their training.
• Subspecialty Clinics: During the ambulatory block, all residents and interns spend the remaining half-days in various internal medicine subspecialty and other specialty ambulatory areas. Clinical experiences are available in Cardiology, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Hematology/Oncology, Infectious Diseases, Nephrology, Neurology, Pain Management, Pulmonary (including Sleep Medicine), Rheumatology, Radiation Oncology, Addiction Medicine, as well as in Physical Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine. Recently, we have expanded these clinics to include Dermatology, Urology, and Palliative Care Medicine. We are in the process of expanding this experience further to include additional subspecialties.
• Academic and Administrative Time: During the ambulatory week, all residents get three half-days that are used for academic and administrative duties. Monday mornings are designated for Physician Education and Assessment Center (PEAC) modules (see Conferences) with the outpatient Associate Program Director. Friday afternoons are designated as Administrative half-days during which one hour is dedicated to our Quality Improvement (QI) curriculum and the remainder of time is provided for the residents to complete any outstanding medical documentation and/or residency-related administrative duties. A half-day study allows residents to independently study, complete assigned educational modules (see Academic Enrichment Program), prepare for an upcoming presentation, or conduct research or quality improvement activities.

• Emergency Medicine: Residents rotate in the Emergency Department during their PGY-1 and PGY-3 years. The department is staffed by emergency medicine physicians 24 hours a day. Each emergency medicine rotation consists of approximately six 8-hour shifts over the course of a week for two to four weeks.
• Neurology: PGY-3 residents rotate on the inpatient neurology consult service, which also includes a psychiatry resident and medical students. The team rounds with a dedicated neurologist and is expected to attend weekly neuroradiology conferences while on the rotation to bolster their experience in the field.
• Medical Consults: PGY-3 residents rotate on the inpatient medical consult service. PGY-3 residents evaluate all inpatient medical consults and round with a hospitalist. Moreover, they carry the code pager, being the frontline providers to respond to, and lead, rapid responses and codes. Additional responsibilities during this rotation include reviewing and presenting cases at the weekly Department of Medicine End-of-Life Review sessions and attending biweekly Infection Control and Patient Triage and Safety Team meetings.
• Geriatrics: Our PGY-3 curriculum includes two weeks of Geriatrics rotation at Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital in Bedford, MA. This facility is one of the Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Centers (GRECCs) that focus on aging. The rotation allows residents to gain experience in the best practices in caring for older adults. Residents share the skills gained during this rotation with their teams at BMC Brighton to improve the care for our geriatric population.

Our Intensive Care Unit (ICU) team is collectively responsible for caring for both medical and cardiovascular patients—the ICU team rounds separately with both the pulmonary/critical care and cardiology faculty and fellows.

The team consists of two PGY-3 residents, two PGY-2 residents, and five PGY-1 residents. ICU team members rotate through day and night shifts, thus eliminating 24 hour-long shifts.

Our ICU is a state-of-the-art 28-bed multidisciplinary unit. As a tertiary referral center, the ICU team is constantly exposed to many critically-ill patients with diverse pathology. The team gets firsthand experience responding to rapid responses and codes and managing very complex cases including those with rare diagnoses.

An Advanced Practice Providers team is available during the nights to assist the residents with procedures and admissions.

• Onsite: We offer elective rotations in Cardiology, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Infectious Diseases, Nephrology, Pulmonary Medicine, Critical Care and Procedures, Rheumatology, Neurology, Addiction Medicine, Palliative Care, Addiction Medicine, Hematology/Oncology, and Emergency Medicine. We have recently begun to offer Psychiatry and Anesthesia electives for interested residents.
• Offsite: Residents may wish to do one offsite clinical elective of their choice (up to four weeks in duration) during their second or third year of residency training with the approval of the program director. Residents may also have opportunities to do rotations at the Boston Medical Center main campus in certain subspecialties.

Scholarly Activities and Quality Improvement

Every year, residents publish in peer-reviewed journals and present at national conference. The residency program helps identify mentors for residents interested in research. The program also has a dedicated quality improvement curriculum.

National Conferences

The program financially supports the residents presenting at conferences with research conducted at BMC Brighton. As a result, our residents present at a variety of local, regional, and national meetings each year.

Published Research

Many of the program residents are interested in research and are able to publish during residency. Residents who are interested in research are assisted in identifying mentors in their field of interest. Many faculty members are actively engaged in clinical and basic sciences research.

Resident Publications 2022–2024 »

Annual Research Day

BMC Brighton is proud to host an annual Research Day.

• 2025 Annual Research Day Program
• 2024 Annual Research Day Program 
• 2023 Annual Research Day Program
• 2022 Annual Research Day Program
• 2021 Annual Research Day Program
• 2018 Annual Research Day Program

Quality Improvement

The program has an integrated curriculum on Quality Improvement that is facilitated by Dr. Bertrand Jaber, Chair of Medicine, which occurs weekly during ambulatory blocks during an administrative half day. Categorical residents are required to complete a Quality Improvement (QI) project during residency. Completed projects are presented annually at the Annual Quality Improvement Presentation and have also been presented at regional conferences.

• Research: PGY-2 and PGY-3 residents with a well-conceived research plan and a designated faculty mentor can use one elective block to pursue a research project instead of their clinical away elective.
• Mock Code Blue Sessions: Code blue training is provided during noon conference sessions by chief medical residents during ambulatory weeks. These are coordinated in collaboration with the Electrophysiology team. Emphasis is given to improving resident comfort as code leaders.