Primary Care Program

Emory's primary care track produces outstanding general internists who are prepared for professional careers in clinical practice, as clinician-educators, or in research. More than 200 graduates are currently practicing across the country in careers as diverse as palliative medicine, geriatrics, academic GIM, Indian Health Service, and in private practices in urban, suburban and rural settings. 

As a smaller program housed within the larger residency program, our primary care residents rotate through their ambulatory blocks together as a class, emphasizing peer learning and collaboration while forming a tight community. 

Our residents practice in an X+Y model with fully separate inpatient and outpatient rotations. Primary care interns follow a 4+1 model, and PGY 2s and 3s follow a 4+4 model, with six Y blocks in the second year and seven in the third. 

• Diagnosis and Management of Inpatient and Outpatient Diseases
• Experience in diverse hospital settings and exposure to a wide range of career paths
• Learning to Critically Appraise Literature 
• Engagement in Service Learning

The intern year focuses on expanding medical knowledge in common outpatient diseases. Time spent on inpatient service (general wards and subspecialty consults) builds a strong foundation in acute care, while continuity clinic practice focuses on common outpatient issues such as diabetes, hypertension, and musculoskeletal complaints. Didactic blocks on core clinical topics and quality improvement solidify this experiential knowledge.   

• Formalize teaching and leadership skills 
• Career development series 
• Mentored research and scholarship 
• Take leadership in journal club
• Prepare submission for Society for General Internal Medicine meeting 

Second year residents begin to move into leadership roles. Didactics include ambulatory topics, careers in general internal medicine, social determinants of health, integrated behavioral health, and health policy and advocacy. Second year residents are also responsible for leading primary care journal club, and under mentorship, submitting a clinical vignette or research abstract to an academic meeting. With six Y blocks in the second year, residents select a second site continuity clinic to further strengthen their bedside ambulatory skill set and expose them to patient populations in a new setting.  

• Complete individual learning goals in preparation for graduation 
• Personal/professional development with Eat Pray Love series 
• Near-peer mentorship  
• Continued scholarship with the goal of submission for publication 
• Learn practice management and business of medicine concepts

PGY-3 residents finalize their individual learning goals in preparation for their future career. In addition, senior residents serve as mentors for incoming interns; enhance their teaching skills with delivery of a capstone talk and a lecture in the ambulatory block curriculum; and, with a mentor, submit an article to a peer-reviewed publication. They continue in their primary and secondary continuity clinics, solidifying longitudinal relationships with patients. Senior residents also coordinate our “Eat, Pray, Love” professional development series, an informal dinner where GIM faculty and PC track alums talk about their career path.

*Subspecialties include (ID, Hematology, Oncology, Renal, Endocrine, Rheumatology, Gastroenterology, and Pulmonary)