Internal Medicine Residency Program
Newark Beth Israel Medical Center

Primary Care Track

The Newark Beth Israel Medical Center Internal Medicine Program is proud to announce the establishment of a new Primary Care Track, beginning in July 2011, dedicated to training knowledgeable and effective primary care physicians committed to providing compassionate evidence-based care to the communities they serve.  Started under the auspices of a prestigious grant from HRSA as part of a national Primary Care Residency Training Expansion, our program aims to achieve a balanced mix of academics, service to the community and experience in the day-to-day practical aspects of primary care practice.

Excellent Preparation for a Career in Primary Care, or Anything Else….

The Primary Care Track has a separate match number from the NBIMC Traditional Internal Medicine Residency Program.  Applicants may apply to both programs simultaneously.  Residents from both types of programs sit for the same American Board of Internal Medicine Certification Exam and must fulfill the same basic requirements for Internal Medicine Residency training as mandated by the ACGME.  Although the main goal of the Primary Care Track is to prepare residents for a successful career in Primary Care, residents who go through this track are still able to apply for subspecialty fellowships should they decide to do so.  With its broad clinical and didactic background, the Primary Care Track teaches residents an evidence-based, patient-centered approach to problem-solving, while also giving them real-life practice experience that will be invaluable whatever the next stage of their career may bring. 

Enhanced Clinical Experience

The program offers a truly substantial amount of primary care exposure for all three years.  The total amount of dedicated ambulatory time is 10 weeks during intern and second year, followed by 12 weeks during the third year of training.  All primary care residents will have a weekly continuity clinic in the Adult Health Center, the hospital-affiliated outpatient clinic that serves the local population.  Here, residents will have the opportunity to provide high quality primary care to patients who are from a largely indigent, culturally diverse population.

Additional rotations with affiliated general internists in private offices add another layer of primary care exposure.  During their final year, residents will have the opportunity to participate in a Practice Experience, an extended ambulatory block period of 2 or 3 consecutive months during which they are fully integrated into a clinical practice as a functioning “partner”.

In order to have enough time in their schedules for enhanced primary care experiences, Primary Care Track residents will spend less time on Critical Care rotations, but still have enough exposure in the Medical Intensive Care Unit and Cardiac Critical Care Unit to facilitate overall patient care and to meet ACGME and ABIM (American Board of Internal Medicine) requirements.  They will also have less required time on inpatient subspecialty rotations.  (They remain free to elect more of this inpatient consult rotation time as part of their elective time, if they desire.)  During their elective time, primary care residents may choose from medical subspecialty clinics (ID, cardiology, etc), as well as a broad array of other rotations, including psychiatry, gynecology, orthopedics, ophthalmology, dermatology, geriatrics, hospice and palliative care, as well as experiences with substance abuse and dependence programs, nursing homes and home visits.

An overview of the anticipated schedule differences between the traditional and primary care tracks is given below:

Broad-Based Primary Care Curriculum

A core outpatient curriculum already exists within our noon conference schedule for all residents, utilizing the well-regarded Hopkins Internet Learning Curriculum.  Second and third year residents take part in peer teaching, leading one of these sessions on a topic of their choice.  Primary care residents will be expected to complete a performance improvement project, lead a journal club and hold a case-based Grand Rounds presentation, on a primary care topic of their choice.

Additional topics will be covered during a formal primary care curriculum, including topics such as cultural competency, health disparities, gender-specific medicine, performance improvement principles and office management. The program’s emphasis on a holistic approach to patients is mirrored by its holistic approach to the residency training experience, including exploration of topics such as work-life balance and optimizing career satisfaction.

The Successful Applicant

To be eligible for the Primary Care Track at NBIMC, the successful applicant must be either a U.S. citizen or Permanent Resident, in addition to meeting the other eligibility requirements for the Internal Medicine program.  These stipulations have been set forth by HRSA as part of the Primary Care Residency Expansion grant awards.   Additionally, an interest in working with underserved populations is strongly appreciated.

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