Curriculum Overview
Valley Family Medicine offers an innovative curriculum that provides a breadth of experience and flexibility to prepare family physicians to practice in a variety of settings. The training includes full spectrum family medicine with quality inpatient and outpatient primary care, obstetrics, and behavioral medicine. Unique components include scheduling residents in clinic on a daily basis (known as Clinic First), disease management and population-based care, integration of evidenced-based medicine, and healthcare management seminars that are targeted to each academic year. The entire program is designed to create an emotionally supportive environment that encourages intellectual debate and lifelong professional development.
The obstetrics curriculum is a key component of the training. Obstetric experiences begin on the first day of the program and continue throughout residency. Residents work closely with obstetricians, perinatologists, and family physicians. They typically perform 100-150 vaginal deliveries over the course of their training. In addition, they assist with high- and low-risk deliveries, including assisting with C-sections. By the time they graduate, residents will have performed or participated in more deliveries than most other family medicine residents. Due to the quality of the obstetrical training, second-year University of Washington family medicine residents come to Valley Medical Center for a six-week obstetrics rotation and work alongside VFM’s residents and attendings.
Another key component of the curriculum is training residents in doctor-patient communications. Residents receive regular one-on-one precepting in their continuity clinic with both family medicine and behavioral science faculty (Focus Clinic).Working closely with faculty allows residents to hone their interpersonal and clinical skills. Our goal is to optimize clinical outcomes through the use of effective communication.
Residents pursue individualized curriculum priorities through rotations during their 3 years at Valley Family Medicine.
Click here to view three year Family Medicine block rotations.