A Letter from the Program Director
Family Medicine education at Summa has a rich history and a vibrant future. We take great pride in the fact that over the years, students and team members regularly describe the residency environment as positive, welcoming, friendly and collaborative. We are also very proud of the faculty and clinical specialized team members that make it possible to offer unparalleled training opportunities.
Since the ACGME released new program guidelines for Family Medicine, our program embraced the recommended changes and modified the PGY1 Year's structure. We completed all of the required modifications to our curricular offerings in 2024 to meet both the ACGME and ABFM standards. We start the PGY1 year with a month-long orientation that prepares residents for immersion into the hospital and exposes them to the Family Medicine outpatient clinic. We include assessments of knowledge, practical skills and the creation of their first learning plan that will be the basis for their personal educational experience. We offer one month of ambulatory pediatrics instead of two months of inpatient pediatrics. We added a month of newborn nursery. Surgery was converted to an outpatient rotation and moved to the PGY2 year. Residents now have the opportunity to experience a dedicated month of behavioral and community medicine in their PGY2 year. Residents have a total of six months of electives in their second and third years that they can utilize for their future practice interests or concentrate on a specific "track."
As a certified Patient-Centered Medical Home, the program is further adapting to the changing healthcare environment and the needs of our resident learners with exciting, positive changes in curricular offerings and clinical operations. Residents are trained in a multidisciplinary approach to the care of the most frail and vulnerable complex patients in our community. The support that Summa provides has allowed us to offer integrated behavioral health services, clinical pharmacists, addiction treatment, social work support, home visits, complex care coordination and increased access for our patients via telemedicine.
Our population health initiatives help assure that all of the patients in our practice receive a higher level of chronic disease care and preventive care. We have unique programs in place that address food insecurity with a fresh food pantry, and a collaboration with legal aid to help patients with legal barriers that may affect their ability to receive medical care.
At the Family Medicine Center, we believe that ‘the clinic is the curriculum’. This means that we strive to improve clinic operations to optimize resident education. Our Clinic First model emphasizes team-based continuity care. As part of Clinic First, we offer 1000 hours of continuity clinic. PGY2 and PGY3 residents see patients 2-3 full days per week.
Residents participate in educational sessions each Wednesday afternoon that include hands-on practical sessions, OMM sessions, interactive core topic discussions, and invited didactic presentations. Twice a year we offer skill building workshops that add to the training in dermatology, POCUS (point of care ultrasound), musculoskeletal and casting techniques.
Our graduates have gone on to practice in many areas of medicine - hospice and palliative medicine, sports medicine, addiction medicine, geriatrics, hospitalist care, urgent care, locum tenens, rural medicine, and international medicine. We also have many graduates serving in practice and medical leadership positions, including many in Summa leadership roles.
This recruitment season we will continue with virtual interviewing combined with in-person opportunities. I am quite excited about all that our program has to offer, and how our diverse multidisciplinary group of educators enrich the training you receive. We hope that you will choose to interview with us and see and feel for yourself the culture of Summa and our program.
Sincerely,
Maria A. Schiaffino, M.D., FAAFP
Program Director