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Internal Medicine

A Message from the Program Director

Thank you for your interest in our residency program in Primary Internal Medicine offered by St. John’s Episcopal Hospital.

Our training program has a rich history of producing high quality physicians who go on to excel in both general and sub-specialty medicine. We have as our mission the education of physicians who have the clinical skills and the humanistic qualities to practice as well rounded primary care general internists, hospitalists and sub-specialists.

In order to meet our goals, the training program at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital has undergone significant, exciting change. While retaining the best, high-quality categorical internal medicine program, we have added several months of ambulatory care experience to our schedule. Residents will, therefore, acquire expertise in the nuances of both inpatient and outpatient care. Much of this training takes place in our Ambulatory Care Center and is provided by an experienced faculty of Board Certified physicians.

Our curriculum has also been expanded in the areas of ambulatory and general internal medicine, as well as evidence-based medicine, to provide our residents with the knowledge necessary to practice comprehensive Primary Care Internal Medicine. We service a wonderful diverse community, which provides a fertile training environment.

We welcome your interest and look forward to meeting with you. Please apply to our residency through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS).

Sheldon Markowitz, MD

Program Director

Our Training Program

The training program is a fully approved three year categorical program and is a major teaching affiliate of the State University of New York Downstate Medical School.

Our expected residency distribution for the coming year is as follows: 20 PGY-1’s, 20 PGY-2’s, and 20 PGY-3’s.

The PGY-1 year includes approximately eight months on the General Medical Floors (two of which are on night float), two months in the Intensive Care Units, and one month of block continuity ambulatory care experience. The PGY-2 year consists of approximately six months on the General Medical Floor (of which 1-1/2 months are on night float), one month in the Medical Intensive Care Unit, one month in the Emergency Department, one month in the Neurology Unit, one month of elective, and one month of block continuity ambulatory care experience. The PGY-3 year consists of approximately four months of elective, one month on the General Medical Floors, one month in the Emergency Department, one month as the supervising resident in the CCU, one month on the Cardiology Unit, one month of Geriatrics, one month of block continuity ambulatory care experience, and one month of block interdisciplinary ambulatory care experience.

Our relationship with the medical school is a strong one. Medical students rotate to St. John’s Episcopal Hospital during their second year and the medical school faculty provides many teaching conferences. St. John’s Episcopal Hospital residents spend a total of six months at the medical school campus during their training; rotations include General Medicine, Neurology, Cardiology, and electives.

All of the intensive care units at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital have the most up-to-date computerized equipment and are staffed year round with board-certified subspecialists. Residents are assigned to intensive care units a total of five months during their training, and receive additional critical care experience on night float.

While we remain a Categorical Internal Medicine Training Program with extensive in-patient experience, we have been expanding our emphasis on primary care and ambulatory medicine. Residents attend their medical continuity clinic twice weekly and have a total of four months of ambulatory block rotations in the three years of training. All clinics are directly supervised by faculty, and we have developed a separate ambulatory care curriculum. Our Ambulatory Care Center provides a modern and comfortable environment for patients and staff. Additional ambulatory experience is obtained in subspeciality clinics and private offices of local voluntary physicians.

Areas of emphasis in primary care include Adolescent Medicine, Gynecology, Behavioral Medicine, Preventive Medicine and Public Health. Ambulatory experience is also gained in Orthopedics, ENT Medicine, Neurology, Dermatology, Pediatrics, Geriatric Medicine, and many other fields. Clinical experience is supplemented by ample teaching rounds and a comprehensive lecture series in general Internal Medicine. By expanding our curriculum in primary and ambulatory care, we are providing residents with the broad skills needed to enter practice in general medicine. At the same time, the training in categorical internal medicine provides residents with the backgrounds to enter subspeciality training.

Each PGY-1 resident on General Medicine generally cares for approximately 8 to 12 patients. A team in General Medicine consist of two PGY-1 residents, one PGY-2 resident, and an attending physician.

St. John’s Episcopal Hospital utilizes a night float system of on call. This system means that residents do not work more than 24 hours at a time and have adequate time off between shifts.

As a supplement to the broad range of clinical experience we provide, the training program offers an extensive conference schedule. Our weekly Medical Grand Rounds often features eminent speakers from major medical centers all around the country, and our monthly Morbidity/Mortality Conference is a highlight of the educational program. At our monthly Basic Science Conference, speakers from the Medical School present the latest developments in bench research. There are monthly conferences in every subspeciality of Internal Medicine, as well as twice monthly Radiology conferences and a monthly ECG conference.

Residents at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital are actively encouraged to participate in medical research. Clinical projects at the Hospital are ongoing and opportunities for laboratory research are available at the Medical School. St. John’s Episcopal Hospital has been a participating institution in several major international cardiology studies such as the third and fourth versions of the International Study of Infarct Survival (ISIS 3 and ISIS 4). Several publications with residents as co-authors and resident entries into writing competitions have resulted from these efforts.

Residents who have completed the program at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital are highly sought after for primary care practice positions, hospitalist positions and fellowships. In recent years, most graduating residents have gone into general practice all over the United States, and some have entered fellowships in Pulmonary Medicine, Nephrology, and many other Internal Medicine subspecialties. The faculty strongly supports our house staff in applying for these positions.

The ancillary services provided at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital are extensive and efficient. These include the 24 hours per day phlebotomy, the transporter service, and the ECG team.

About Internal Medicine at St. John’s

Patients are housed in a state-of-the-art 11 story Patient Care Tower. A new Ambulatory Care Center and Outpatient Dialysis Unit have recently been completed. The hospital is equipped with the most modern invasive and non-invasive monitoring and imaging equipment, thus enabling our staff to care for over 10,000 admissions, 30,000 emergency cases, and more than 34,000 ambulatory care visits per year.

The biomedical laboratories at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital provide a full range of testing on-site and are completely computerized. Terminals to access laboratory data are located in all patient areas, thus making the physician’s job much easier. The Medical Service carries a daily census of approximately 150 patients. This includes patients located in an 8 bed Intensive Care Unit, an 8 bed Coronary Care Unit. On the Teaching Medical Service, approximately 70% are private patients and 30% are service patients. Our patient population reflects the heterogeneous community which we serve. We provide care for patients from all socio-economic classes and all races, with a special emphasis on critical care and geriatric medicine.

A large, active group of voluntary attending physicians complements the salaried faculty to give St. John’s Episcopal Hospital strong representation in both General Internal Medicine and every subspecialty of Internal Medicine.

In addition to the training program in Internal Medicine, St. John’s Episcopal Hospital serves as a teaching site for rotating allopathic residents in Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Rehabilitation Medicine.

St. John’s Episcopal Hospital is an equal opportunity employer.

Thank you for your interest in our residency program.

Accreditations

  • Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Residency Review Committee (RRC-ACGME)
  • The Joint Commission Certifications
  • Emergency Heart Care Station by the American Heart Association
  • 911/Level II Trauma Receiving Hospital by New York City Department of Health