Academic years are scheduled into 13 block rotations, each 28 days in length. Over the three years of residency training, residents are guaranteed a minimum of six blocks of elective time along with the required training rotations listed below.
First Year
First year of residency has no elective rotations and provides a broad base of training upon which to build a future practice. In-house call is approximately one in four. First year residents maintain a continuity outpatient clinic of 1-2 half days per week.
- Orientation: 4 weeks
- Inpatient Obstetrics: 8 weeks
- Inpatient Family Medicine Team (Daytime): 12 weeks
- Inpatient Pediatrics: 4 weeks
- Outpatient Pediatrics: 4 weeks
- Emergency Medicine: 4 weeks
- Orthopedics/MSK: 4 weeks
- Emergency Medicine: 4 weeks
- Orthopedics/MSK: 4 weeks
- Behavioral Science: 2 weeks
- Outpatient Surgery Clinic: 2 weeks
- Radiology: 2 weeks
- Pharmacology/Suboxone: 2 weeks
- Point-of-Care Ultrasound: 2 weeks
- Night Float: 2 weeks
Second Year
Second year provides opportunities for electives with required rotations continuing to develop skills and experiences built during the first year of training. Second year residents maintain a continuity outpatient clinic of 3-5 half days per week.
- Inpatient Obstetrics: 8 weeks
- Inpatient Family Medicine Team (Daytime): 16 weeks
- Emergency Medicine: 4 weeks
- Inpatient Pediatrics: 4 weeks
- Dermatology: 4 weeks
- Pharmacology/Suboxone Clinic: 2 weeks
- Ear, Nose, and Throat: 2 weeks
- Cardiology: 2 weeks
- Night Float: 2 weeks
- Selectives/Electives: 8 weeks
Third Year
Third year of residency includes ample time for electives. Each resident serves as the chief resident leading the inpatient team and facilitating morning rounds. Residents in their third year spend two weeks in both Grafton, ND and Devils Lake, ND working with physicians to provide care in a rural setting. Third year residents maintain a continuity outpatient clinic of 4-6 half days per week.
- Chief Resident: 6 or 8 weeks
- Population Health/Home Visits: 6 or 8 weeks
- Rural Rotation: 4 weeks
- Inpatient Obstetrics: 4 weeks
- Critical Care: 4 weeks
- NICU: 4 weeks
- Orthopedics/MSK: 2 weeks
- Night Float: 2 weeks
- Pharmacology/Suboxone Clinic: 2 weeks
- Selective/Electives: 16-18 weeks
Selectives and Electives
Residents will select six blocks of elective rotations during their residency training. Three of the electives must be chosen from the list of selectives found below. The other three electives can be chosen from the selective list or can be any other specialty or experience of the resident’s choice. The program encourages and works with residents to set up external rotations at an off-site location of the resident’s choice.
Selectives include: Anesthesiology, Urology, GI, Trauma Surgery, Nephrology, Hematology/Oncology, Neurology, Infectious Disease and Gynecology
Electives include, but are not limited to: Procedures, Sports Medicine, Sleep Medicine, Interventional Radiology, Plastic Surgery
Clinic
Residents build and maintain a continuity of patients at one central clinic location in Grand Forks, approximately one mile north of Altru Hospital. Each resident has their own workspace, including desk, computer and phone, at the clinic. All faculty members, including behavioral health and pharmacist, have offices at the clinic and are available to precept while residents are in clinic.
At the beginning of residency, resident’s patients are scheduled in 60-minute intervals, decreasing to 40-minutes after six months of training. Second-year decreases to 30-minute appointment intervals and third-year residents to 20-minute appointment intervals.
Conferences
Conferences are held at noon four days of the week to provide didactic learning experiences in the broad range of family practice. Lectures are presented by faculty, community physicians, residents, and other experts in their field. Lunch is catered at all noon conferences.
Topics include, but are not limited to:
- Emergency Medicine
- Orthopedics
- Perinatal
- Journal Club
- Gynecology
- Ethics
- Sports Medicine
- Psychiatry/Wellness
- Ultrasound
- Root-Cause Analysis and Apparent Cause Analysis
- Pharmacology
- Safety Forum
- Practice Management
- Pediatrics
Resident Education
The afternoon of the fourth Tuesday of each month is devoted to resident education, providing an opportunity to devote more time to in-depth study of various topics and procedures. Often this includes workshops covering casting and splinting, colposcopy, or methods of musculoskeletal assessment.
