Internal Medicine Residency Program

Categorical

Our mission is to provide rigorous clinical training in both inpatient and ambulatory settings to ensure that our residents are fully equipped to serve their communities as compassionate physicians and leaders in healthcare.

X+Y Schedule Structure

In the categorical program, our residents are exposed to a wide breadth of primary and subspecialty care that will best prepare them for a career in internal medicine. We maintain an "X+Y" schedule model for our program. During their "X" weeks, our residents experience a variety of rotations that are divided between inpatient and outpatient time, with the breakdown of "X" rotations varying greatly over the three years of training. Our residents have dedicated time for continuity and subspecialty clinics during their "Y" weeks.

See example schedule(Link opens in new window)

"X+Y" Rotation Breakdown:

Graph showing the rotation breakdown schedule for PGY1 and PGY 2-3

Inpatient Experience

With the X+Y schedule, residents do not have outpatient clinic responsibilities that interrupt inpatient rotations. This also maximizes the time that the entire inpatient team is together, improving them cohesiveness and continuity with patients. Beyond inpatient rotations, the "X" rotations may include consults, outpatient rotations, or electives, all of which are typically Monday through Friday rotations.

: General Medical Wards
Teams are composed of one resident, two interns, and one or two medical students on their clerkship or sub-internship. Each team is overseen by one hospitalist attending.
Teams rotate at our quaternary center for many patients with organ transplants, where residents become well versed in the diagnosis and management of transplant-related complications as well as common hospital conditions.
Medical Intensive Care Unit
Each team includes one resident and one intern. There are four teams in the MICU overseen by two fellows and two attendings.
Call is every fourth day for each team. A dedicated night team admits and cares for patients overnight.
Residents become well versed in the workup and treatment of respiratory failure, pulmonary hypertension, septic shock, liver disease, gastrointestinal bleeds, and other life-threatening pathology. They also gain real-time procedural and POCUS experience.
Cardiac Care Unit
Each team includes one resident and intern. There are four teams in the CCU overseen by two fellows and two attendings.
Call is every fourth day for each team. A dedicated night team admits and cares for patients overnight.
Residents diagnose and manage acute cardiac pathologies such as acute coronary syndrome, heart failure, arrhythmias, and adult-congenital heart disease.
: Solid Oncology
Each team includes one resident and one intern. There are two teams overseen by an oncology attending and oncology fellow.
Residents learn the pathophysiology of common malignancies and manage complications associated with cancer and its treatment.
Hospitalist
All PGY-2 and PGY-3 residents rotate through the UCLA Santa Monica Hospital to experience a busy hospitalist practice. Residents work one-on-one with a hospitalist attending.
Residents grow skills toward independent practice and function nearly independently as community physicians.
Geriatrics
The team includes two senior residents, a nurse practitioner, and attending geriatrician.
Program structure provides the opportunity to function as junior attending on a dedicated unit for the care of geriatric patients with an interdisciplinary approach.
: General Medicine Wards
Each team includes one resident, two interns, and one or two medical students, supervised by a hospitalist attending.
Residents diagnose and treat common hospital conditions in a unique and underserved Veteran population with complex psychosocial needs.
Residents work with an interdisciplinary team including a clinical pharmacist, case manager, social worker, and clinical dietician.
Intensive Care Unit
Each team includes one resident and one intern. There are three teams, supervised by an intensivist and fellow.
A dedicated night team of one resident and one intern admits and cross covers the unit patients at night.
Residents gain experience managing common ICU conditions and emergencies, while also improving procedural and POCUS skills.
Cardiology Telemetry Ward
Each team includes one resident and one intern. There are two teams, supervised by a cardiology attending and fellow.
Residents gain experience caring for common cardiac conditions like congestive heart failure, acute coronary syndrome, and arrhythmias.
Geriatrics Rotation
The team consists of two senior residents overseen by a geriatrician and fellow.
Rotation focuses on care of geriatric patients in the inpatient setting.
Teams admit Monday through Friday, with no overnight call.
Emergency Medicine Department
Interns and residents have a two-week experience in the VA ED.
Residents evaluate a wide variety of non-traumatic emergencies.
: Residents rotate at our partner county hospital with an underserved, primarily Spanish-speaking population.
Interns rotate on general medicine wards for one month during the PGY-1 year.
Residents often spend additional time during their PGY-2 or PGY-3 years on wards.
: All interns spend 2-4 weeks on night rotations for general medicine wards at Ronald Reagan UCLA and the West LA VA.
In our units (ICU, CCU), the night admitting team is composed of one senior resident and one intern.
Second- and third-year residents have a 2-week rotation serving as the night admitting resident admitting patients on alternating nights at each of our clinical sites.

Outpatient Experience

Every five weeks, residents have one week (the “Y” week, or “+1 week”) dedicated to ambulatory medicine during which they see their own continuity panels and rotate through subspecialty clinics.
Residents who have the same “Y” week are grouped into “firms.” Residents in the same firm have the same weekends off together and get to know each other well throughout residency.
Each “Y” week includes:

Continuity clinic
- Subspecialty clinics
- Didactic half day focusing on ambulatory medicine topics
- Simulation sessions
- An administrative half day to follow-up on in-basket messages/results and other tasks

Possible continuity clinic sites:

Internal Medicine Suites at Ronald Reagan Medical Center
- West Los Angeles VA
- Sepulveda VA
- Simms-Mann Health and Wellness Center (Venice Family Clinic)

Find more information on each clinic site.

Clinic partners - Internal Medicine Residency. UCLA Health

Subspecialty Clinics	Elective Rotations
Cardiology Endocrinology Gastroenterology/Hepatology Hematology-Oncology Pulmonology Rheumatology Infectious Diseases Palliative Care Women's Health	Women’s Health Allergy-Immunology East-West Medicine Radiology Dermatology Sports Medicine Sleep Medicine Student Health HIV Clinic Nuclear Medicine Nutrition/Obesity Palliative Care Addiction Medicine

Categorical

X+Y Schedule Structure

"X+Y" Rotation Breakdown:

Inpatient Experience

General Medical Wards

Medical Intensive Care Unit

Cardiac Care Unit

Solid Oncology

Hospitalist

Geriatrics

General Medicine Wards

Intensive Care Unit

Cardiology Telemetry Ward

Geriatrics Rotation

Emergency Medicine Department

Outpatient Experience

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Patient Resources

Patient Resources

Treatment Options

Treatment Options

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