In 2011, the Saint Louis University Family Medicine Residency received a five-year federal grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for the Longitudinal Underserved Community Curriculum. This residency program prepares participants for a wide variety of urban practice, particularly in meeting the challenge of caring for underserved families and communities. This program’s training combines ambulatory care in a community health center (CHC), inpatient rotations in a community hospital, and specialty rotations with academic physicians at St. Louis University and SSM St Mary’s Health Center.
During Post Graduate Year 1 (PGY1), residents participate in a one-month training on ambulatory skills, which includes a poverty simulation, neighborhood windshield survey, and meetings with community leaders.
During PGY2, residents participate in 12 day-long immersion Community Health Seminars that focus on addressing health issues in a community context. Seminars focus on different areas of community care including children’s health, adult health and disease management, elder health, and systemic approaches to community health; they are led by family physicians, internists, and pediatricians at Family Health Care Centers. The seminars are followed by sessions in the Family Care Health Center in order for residents to use these learned techniques.
During PGY3, residents work with a faculty mentor with extensive community experience to complete a community-oriented primary care project.
Throughout all three years of this residency program, there are monthly community-focused lectures in health issues, including health literacy and cultural competence. The lecture series includes role-play workshops on issues of cultural competency, as well as writing workshops that engage residents to reflect upon their patient encounters.
This program is being developed as a model curriculum teaching tool, with the goal of sharing its lessons with residency programs across the country.
* Please note: Information contained in this database is self-reported by representatives from each program. It does not represent an exhaustive list of education and training programs and inclusion does not constitute an endorsement from the PCPCC.
