We are an osteopathic-recognized program with 8 residents per class and 15 core faculty. We offer a comprehensive, three-year program of medical, behavioral and practice management education. The curriculum is structured in accordance with the ACGME and Osteopathic Recognition. The program also has a tradition of flexibility in adapting clinical rotations to the educational needs of the individual resident.
Our program has a positive and collegial environment where residents are valued and respected as an integral part of the Summa healthcare team. Residents are actively involved in our practice and system wide committees and leadership opportunities. In our program, residents collaborate with faculty and staff on curriculum, quality and office operations.
These are some of the things that we feel make our program stand out:
Summa Akron Campus residents have the opportunity to learn in a supportive, active teaching environment enhanced by state-of-the-art facilities as noted below:
Summa Health, including the Family Medicine Center, uses Epic EHR for all clinical documentation. In Fall 2022, Summa Health moved to its own instance and added additional modules to further the integration of care.
Residents have onboarding training during their intern orientation process. They then have a personalized session with the clinical informatics faculty where they receive Family Medicine Center specific tools. Throughout the three years, residents have every other month Computer Labs to continue practicing different EHR workflows and best practices.
In 2023 we started offering a robust orientation experience with scheduled lectures, alternating time in the clinic and in the hospital with the family medicine team. Time is also spent obtaining necessary certifications, and in the Sim lab performing procedures with other interns from IM, ED and OB.
This month prepares the new residents to be ready to embark in their Intern year and allows them an opportunity to form bonds with the other interns
One of our top priorities is to maintain the warm and collegial atmosphere that is tangible within our residency. Our commitment to balancing our challenging educational program with camaraderie and support is built into the process of the residency.
Support for our residents is provided in multiple ways:
In addition to the above, faculty members are always available. We have an open-door policy and are available in-person or via phone 24/7 for residents' needs.
The Family Medicine Center of Akron (FMC) is the "home" of the Summa - Akron Campus residency training program. The FMC occupies the entire third floor of the Summa Health South Pavilion on the Summa – Akron Campus. The FMC is equipped, staffed and functions like a family physician's office to simulate as closely as possible a private practice setting. It consists of 17,000+ square feet and houses 30 examination rooms and a procedure suite.
There are currently more than 14,000 patients registered with the center and approximately 2,000 patients are seen in the center each month. We serve an Urban-underserved community with several refugees from Nepal and Burma, among others.
The clinic is staffed with a complement of RNs, MAs and Nurse Student Techs. We have 2 Behavioral Health consultants, 1 Licensed Addiction Medicine specialist and a Social Worker.
Diagnostic capabilities include:
At the Family Medicine Center, we believe that 'the clinic is the curriculum'. One element of a high-functioning clinic is to create resident schedules using the Clinic First model. The clinic day begins with a team huddle, followed by one-on-one pre-precepting with faculty to plan for effective care, as well as address any identified challenges.
Each resident is assigned a panel of patients. We can offer patients the option of face to face or virtual visits. Prior to the start of patient care, residents review patient lists for the half-day with his/her assigned preceptor. Residents receive both direct and indirect supervision, depending on the needs of the resident and the patient. Following each half-day of patient encounters, the resident participates in a chart review with a teaching staff member. Video reviews of patient encounters with residents are also conducted periodically. During both types of reviews, emphasis is placed on communication skills, organic knowledge and behavioral techniques.
The resident/faculty ratio is 2-3:1 to allow for progressive supervision of patient visits and procedures. Our clinical pharmacists, behaviorists and social worker are on hand to help with "on the spot" patient needs.
PGY-1: One half-day per week. Progressive responsibility with longer visits.
PGY-2: Two full days per week
PGY-3: Two to three full days per week
Comprehensive gynecological experience is obtained through a longitudinal curriculum that includes a one-month outpatient rotation; inpatient gynecologic care on our hospitalized patients, and office-based gynecologic care and procedures in the Family Medicine Center. Residents regularly perform procedures, such as endometrial biopsy, colposcopy with biopsy, IUD placement and removal, and Nexplanon placement.
Each resident is required to spend two months rotating on Labor & Delivery. Emphasis during this time is on the management of normal labor and delivery, as well as recognition and management of high-risk obstetrical conditions. Approximately 4,000 deliveries are performed at Summa’s Akron Campus annually. As such, trainees can expect to easily meet the minimum 25 deliveries and attain the required level of competency during their time on Labor & Delivery. Additional experience is obtained through continuity patient deliveries.
During the second and third years, all residents provide continuity prenatal care and delivery. Most of these continuity deliveries are precepted by our Family Medicine attendings. As a group, our residents perform 20-30 continuity deliveries annually through the Family Medicine Center.
In the first year, the obstetrics and family medicine residents complete the Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) together, taught by family medicine physicians and nursing leaders. As of July 2023, family medicine residents have started participating with the OB interns in a weekly OB Bootcamp during the month of July.
Residents have many opportunities to build their procedural skills and experience. Interns receive most of their procedural experience during Orientation, so they are ready to apply their skills in the clinic. There are hands-on, practical residency wide skill-building workshops held every six months in the office, led by both faculty and residents. Some of the procedures available are:
POCUS is a recent addition to the program. Dr Paul Chenowith, Director of Osteopathic Education, is currently obtaining a POCUS Teaching certificate, which will allow for billing and documentation of procedures. Our program has multiple Butterfly units to be used in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. POCUS is taught in a longitudinal format, integrated into skills building workshops and didactics, and integrated into both the sports medicine and OMT curricula. Residents will have exposure and experience during all three years of training to basic POCUS techniques, including pulmonary, cardiac, musculoskeletal, abdominal, obstetrics and vascular imaging.
The sports medicine curriculum is designed to meet the varying needs of our residents, from a core experience to preparation for a sports medicine fellowship. All residents complete a core rotation, including experiences with both Dr. Nilesh Shah, a fellowship-trained family physician, who is Summa's Director of Sports Medicine; and Dr. Joseph Congeni, the Director of the Children's Hospital Medical Center of Akron Sports Medicine Fellowship.
Residents have many opportunities to build their sports medicine knowledge and experience, including:
The Family Medicine residency offers home visits for those patients who are established patients and who are frail or have medical conditions that qualify them for homebound status. Residents are required to complete six home visits half days during their residency and are accompanied by Dr. Schiaffino or Dr Howe.
Home visits are an essential tool in the care continuum of our patients and are a requirement for graduation. You can learn a lot about your patients during these visits.
Some patients may only be temporarily homebound, while others are permanently restricted to their homes. We help patients coordinate their care, reconcile their medications, and arrange for home services and durable medical equipment. The home visit program is directed by Dr. Schiaffino and Dr. Howe and supported by our Nurse Practitioners.
Following the ACGME requirement for a continuity experience in the Nursing Home setting, we assigned our Core faculty to have a panel of patients belonging to our department. Residents will attend Nursing Home rounds every other month during their second and third years. They will learn to coordinate care in a multidisciplinary fashion and work in different regulatory setting.
The Nursing Home experience will be paired up with a specific Geriatric curriculum.
Residents have six months of FMIS throughout their three years of training (two months per year). Residents admit our clinic patients, complex care patients, newborns, postpartum patients and we follow any of our patients who may be admitted in other services.
The FMIS team is typically made up of 1-2 residents from each class (4-5 residents total), one attending for the week (Monday through Sunday), several medical students, and other care team members (e.g., pharmacy, behavioral health). We offer a dedicated curricular content for our teaching rounds as well as OMT rounds.
The FMIS has a dedicated team room in the hospital conveniently located near the cafeteria. It is complete with seven computers, several white boards, and a large screen monitor for teleconferences. The YMCA is on campus where residents have a membership and can work out.
There are no traditional call duties during residency. Residents are assigned anywhere from one to six consecutive night shifts during several PGY1 rotations, and they complete one full month of night float on their OB rotation.
During the PGY2 year, the night float resident provides coverage for the FMIS through the week and is scheduled off each weekend. During night float months, the resident is required to maintain limited continuity patient care office hours once weekly but otherwise has no daytime responsibilities.
PGY 3 residents cover the FMIS on the weekend nights or provide backup coverage for the night float resident during the week. Continuity OB call coverage is divided among PGY2 and PGY3 residents.
Our Family Medicine residents complete their inpatient pediatric rotations, ambulatory pediatrics, newborn, pediatric subspecialty electives, urgent care and pediatric emergency room rotations through Akron Children's Hospital (ACH); one of the ten largest pediatric hospitals in the U.S.
Our curriculum has been modified to offer 3 Pediatric rotations in the PGY1 year to give residents the tools needed for integration of pediatric care in the FMC clinic.
The objective of behavioral science education is to assist the resident physician in understanding interpersonal relationships, family dynamics, physician-patient encounters, as well as acute and chronic disease processes. The family physician must be equipped to understand and respect patient behaviors and emotions to build a partnership for health promotion. Implementation of the curriculum occurs in an integrated model that teaches collaboration between physicians and behavioral health providers.
Highlights of the curriculum include:
Integrated behavioral health education starts in intern orientation with a workshop that educates interns about when and how to incorporate behavioral health consultation into their care of patients. Throughout their training, residents work with behavioral health consultants, a social worker, and a consulting psychiatrist. Behavioral health team members are available every day in the clinic and on the family medicine inpatient service to provide assistance with crisis management, addressing behavioral health symptoms assisting with behavioral aspects of chronic illness, and connecting patients with needed resources.
PGY2 residents complete a variety of behavioral health experiences within the family medicine center as well as the Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine departments.
Residents will complete a minimum of 50 hours of community service and leadership activities. Some of these experiences are scheduled during the new Behavioral Health rotation. Experiences include homeless centers, Akron Food pantry, women’s shelters, free clinics as well as educational community fairs.
The residents are an integral part of teaching medical students and each other. Residents frequently interact with medical students in the classroom and in the inpatient and outpatient settings. Residents are directly involved in teaching each other and students through morning report/board reviews, core lectures, clinical care, workshops; as well as opportunities to teach at our affiliated Medical Schools.
Residents will have 6 months of Elective time. Three in the second year and three in the third year. Two of those electives may be conducted outside of Summa (abroad, other health system or state). We hope to offer opportunities to enhance the experiences that will prepare residents for practice.
Some of these include Sports Medicine, Geriatrics, Palliative and Hospice, Academic Medicine, Women's Health, LGBTQ+ care, Population Health, International health, Rural Medicine and Hep C/ HIV care. Residents have used their elective months to tailor a curriculum to meet their educational needs.
Additionally, we will work with residents to create new elective experiences, if they express interest in a specific area (i.e. Correctional Medicine, Occupational Medicine, Complex Care).
Opportunities exist for international electives. Most recently, residents have completed electives in Uganda and Kenya.
Tracks were developed as concentrated training that will prepare residents for a specific fellowship or tailored practice. We make use of some of the elective time to add specific additional rotations. The curriculum for these tracks is managed by a dedicated Core Faculty.
The Enhanced OB track is designed to provide learning and hands-on experiences that will give residents expertise in diagnosis, treatment and procedural care of obstetric patients. Upon completion of the track, residents will be prepared to provide obstetrical care independently in practice or a fellowship.
The residents will have an additional 2 months of Obstetrics, 4 in total with a minimum of 80 deliveries. Longitudinal scholarship, lectures and experiences are incorporated over a 2-year period.
The Sports Medicine Track is designed to provide learning experiences in a variety of settings that will give residents expertise in the diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of common musculoskeletal conditions that affect athletes. Upon completion of the track, residents will be prepared to apply to a Sports Medicine Fellowship, if desired.
The Department of Medical Education & Research offers fellowship training in the following areas:
Our program has an excellent track record of helping graduates into their desired fellowship training. Our graduates have pursued fellowship training in many areas, including Sports Medicine, Geriatrics, Hospice & Palliative Care, Women's Health, Addiction Medicine, Surgical Critical Care, Neuromusculoskeletal & Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, and Academic Medicine.
Residents attend a basic introduction to leadership during their first-year rotation in the Family Medicine Center and have the opportunity to gain valuable leadership experience throughout their next three years as members and supervisors of their clinical teams.
Residents actively participate in presenting and leading discussions of case reviews for peer review selected from our residency cases and attend our Department of Family Medicine monthly Peer Review Board.
There is the opportunity to organize electives that will focus on meeting leaders throughout the System and the Community, learning specific skills for leadership management.
Beyond the potential to engage with the Summa Health Akron Campus Ethics Committee while participating in direct patient care, there are at least two educational sessions within the family medicine residency ethics curriculum each year.
These sessions are typically case and discussion-based and focus on topics in medical ethics such as evaluation of decision-making capacity, advance directives and advance care planning, code status discussions, identification of surrogates when patients lack capacity, and issues regarding guardianship.
Residents have a longitudinal curriculum on practice management during their residency with specific lectures on practice management topics and direct applications in the family medicine center.
In the PGY 2 year, a dedicated two-week required rotation in practice management allows residents to spend time with a variety of community office practices to gain more knowledge of the different business models.
Residents have many opportunities to build their addiction medicine knowledge and experience, including:
Previous and current residents have implemented committees which have made the FMC a better place to work. Incoming residents have the opportunity to become involved in and/or lead these committees.
Our Diversity Action Committee (DAC) was founded by a recent graduate of our program and current members consist of FMC employees, residents and faculty. The group works on initiatives to promote diversity, awareness, and inclusion within the program and clinic for our residents, employees, and patients. They frequently present educational topics regarding implicit biases, inequities in medicine, cultural competency, and much more. They are advocates that aim to create inclusive, equitable care for vulnerable/marginalized groups. They also develop strong community ties and find ways for our program to give back to the city and people we have the privilege to care for each day. Some of the projects DAC was able to complete recently included:
This committee was founded by a previous resident and is currently led by our FMC staff. The appreciation committee implements fun activities to help us show our appreciation for each other and create an atmosphere of wellness in the office. They make sure we recognize each other's birthdays and important work anniversaries. The committee coordinates pot-luck lunches to celebrate holidays and other important events. They also organize events such as Halloween "Booing" and holiday tree decorating.
Each year the senior residents lead the committee which works closely with our recruitment coordinator to help organize interviews between residents and applicants, as well as meet-and-greet sessions. These sessions are always appreciated by the applicants as they have an opportunity to ask questions outside of a formal interview.
A senior resident is invited to our weekly Clinic Operations meeting to bring the voice of the residents to improve operational workflows as well as learn of the intricacies that affect patient care delivery and scheduling. This is a unique opportunity to obtain firsthand knowledge of the “inner workings” of a clinic operation.
