Program information
Residents spend their first year of residency at MultiCare Tacoma Family Medicine where they will receive valuable inpatient and emergency medicine training. They will then move to Omak where they will spend the final two years of their training integrated into the rural site. The majority of the R2 and R3 years will be composed of a “longitudinal rotation” which forms the core rural site experience. Daily inpatient rounding time will allow residents to follow their assigned patients through the course of the inpatient stay, and to build skills in team leadership and rural multitasking as they then move onto their other scheduled activities for the day.
- The Omak Rural Training Program is a unique 1:2 program with a busy urban first-year experience at the MultiCare Tacoma Family Medicine’s Residency Program, then a hands-on real life rural Family Medicine for their 2nd & 3rd years in Omak on the Eastern side of the state.
- In Omak, inpatient training will be at MidValley Hospital, the critical access hospital for the Omak area serving a rural population of close to 44,000.
- In Omak, outpatient and community medicine training is from Family Health Centers an FQHC with a recently built community clinic in Omak that is in a system of six Medical Clinics, two Pharmacies, four Dental Clinics and two mobile units.
Curriculum
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Overview
- The rural site utilizes a longitudinal curriculum integrating training in all core areas of family medicine.
- The daily schedule models the life of a practicing rural family physician, allowing residents to apply their fundamental knowledge to managing their patient panel in varied settings.
- Inpatient care takes place at Mid Valley Hospital, a 25 bed critical access hospital offering emergency, inpatient, obstetric and surgical services.
- Residents will take 24 hour call from home once weekly and one weekend per month, admitting patients who present during their call and following those patients throughout their stay in collaboration with the hospitalist team, with time scheduled each morning for inpatient rounding. Patients who present in labor or with obstetrical concerns will also be managed by the resident on call.
- Our continuity clinic site is Family Health Centers, a Federally-Qualified Rural Health Clinic caring for an underserved rural population with a high proportion of non-English speaking patients. We offer integrated pharmacy, behavioral health, MAT peer counseling, naturopathic, and dental services in a Patient Centered Medical Home model.
- Residents will gain familiarity with local specialty care through patient referral communications and through scheduled sessions with specialists which are distributed throughout the two rural years.
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Year 1
First year residents will establish strong fundamental skills in adult and pediatric inpatient medicine as well as obstetrics through rotations at Tacoma General Hospital and Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital. Continuity clinic takes place at Tacoma Family Medicine Clinic, an urban clinic established in providing care for a diverse, under-resourced patient population. First year specialty rotations will focus on experiences with sub-specialists practicing at the urban site.
The first-year curriculum follows a traditional rotation model in thirteen 4-week blocks to allow first year residents to benefit from the patient volume available at the urban site.
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Year 2 and 3
The rural site utilizes a longitudinal curriculum integrating training in all core areas of family medicine. The daily schedule models the life of a practicing rural family physician, allowing residents to apply their fundamental knowledge to managing their patient panel in varied settings.
- Inpatient care takes place at Mid Valley Hospital, a 25-bed critical access hospital offering emergency, inpatient, obstetric and surgical services.
- Residents will have five 24-hour call days from home monthly, admitting patients who present during their call and following those patients throughout their stay in collaboration with the hospitalist team, with time scheduled each morning for inpatient rounding. Patients who present in labor or with obstetrical concerns will also be managed by the resident on call.
- Our continuity clinic site is Family Health Centers, a Federally Qualified Rural Health Clinic caring for an underserved rural population with a high proportion of non-English speaking patients. We offer integrated pharmacy, behavioral health, MAT peer counseling, naturopathic, and dental services in a Patient Centered Medical Home model.
Residents will gain familiarity with local specialty care through patient referral communications and through scheduled sessions with specialists which are distributed throughout the two rural years.