Family Medicine – Palmdale

Rotation Sites

Rotations for the Family Medicine Residency Program will take place at Palmdale Regional Medical Center and various other medical centers and clinics.

Ambulatory

Residents will provide longitudinal outpatient primary care for their patients over the course of their training at the continuity clinic sites, Bartz-Altadonna Community Health Center and Family First Family Medical Practice, both located 5-6 miles from Palmdale Regional Medical Center. Residents are assigned to one of two continuity clinics in order for them to build their own patient panels and provide longitudinal continued care.

Time in the continuity clinic will graduate from one to two half days per week during PGY-1, two to three half days per week during PGY-2, three to four half days per week during PGY-3. During PGY-2 year, there is a month rotation dedicated to continuity clinic. During PGY-3 year, there are two months dedicated to continuity clinic.

Other outpatient rotation experiences include Community Medicine, Cardiology, Pediatrics, Geriatric Medicine, Orthopedics, Sports Medicine, Women’s Health, Addiction Medicine, Pain Management, Otolaryngology, Urology, Rehabilitation, Practice Management and other medical and surgical subspecialties.

Inpatient

Residents will do the majority of their inpatient rotations at Palmdale Regional Medical Center. This includes Adult Family Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Obstetrics, ICU, Cardiology, Infectious Disease, Gastroenterology, Urology, Wound Care and others.

Didactics

Didactic curriculum is well structured to cover a broad range of clinical topics, workshops and skill-building that will supplement residents’ clinical learning experience.

  • The first month of the curriculum year is dedicated to orientation and re-orientation.
  • Wednesday PMs are protected for didactics and conferences, except for 5th Wednesdays which are dedicated to wellness.
  • First Wednesday of the month is dedicated to behavioral medicine and Balint meetings. Balint group meetings will be led by Dr. Castillo and a co-leader. All residents are required to be present during the meetings.
  • Second and third Wednesdays of the month are dedicated to a wide array of medical topics.
  • Fourth Wednesday is dedicated to workshops, group activities and skill building.
  • Lectures will be provided by Family Medicine faculty, specialty faculty, residents and guest lecturers.
  • Each resident is required to provide a minimum of one lecture quarterly.
  • Each Core Faculty is required to provide a minimum of two lectures quarterly.
  • Lecturers are recommended to include Board Review/ITE questions in their lectures.
  • There may also be occasional noon lectures on other days to accommodate lecturers who are not able to provide lectures on Wednesdays.
  • Each resident is required to have a total of 75% attendance annually.
  • All lectures are evaluated.
  • Journal Club meets monthly led by faculty and resident. Residents will select an article to be presented and will be distributed days in advance before the meeting. Faculty and residents are encouraged to read the article before coming to the meeting.

Mortality and Morbidity conference will be held monthly. The resident will select cases to be presented. Faculty are available for guidance and consult for case selection.

Rotations

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PGY-1
BlockWeeksSpecialtyLocation
14 weeksAdult Inpatient Family MedicinePalmdale Regional Medical Center
24 weeksAdult Inpatient Family MedicinePalmdale Regional Medical Center
34 weeksAdult Inpatient Family MedicinePalmdale Regional Medical Center
44 weeksEmergency MedicinePalmdale Regional Medical Center
54 weeksObstetricsPalmdale Regional Medical Center
64 weeksRadiology/Acute RehabPalmdale Regional Medical Center
74 weeksNewborns/ICUPalmdale Regional Medical Center
84 weeksResearch/QIPalmdale Regional Medical Center
94 weeksSurgery/ProcedurePalmdale Regional Medical Center, Bartz-Altadonna Community Health Center, Family First Family Medical Practice
104 weeksBehavioral MedicineBartz-Altadonna Community Health Center
114 weeksWomen's Health/GynecologyWesley Health Center
124 weeksAmbulatory/PediatricsSatey Pediatrics
PGY-2
BlockWeeksSpecialtyLocation
14 weeksAdult Inpatient Family MedicinePalmdale Regional Medical Center
24 weeksAdult Inpatient Family MedicinePalmdale Regional Medical Center
34 weeksAdult Inpatient Family MedicinePalmdale Regional Medical Center
44 weeksNight FloatPalmdale Regional Medical Center
54 weeksObstetrics 2Palmdale Regional Medical Center
62 weeksPediatric Inpatient/EmergencyHuntington Health Hospital
74 weeksMusculoskeletal (Ortho)/Sports MedicineAntelope Valley Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Specialists (AVORS)
84 weeksPain ManagementNeurospine Institute
94 weeksAmbulatory Pediatrics 2Satey Pediatrics
104 weeksElectiveTBD
114 weeksElectiveTBD
124 weeksElectiveTBD
PGY-3
BlockWeeksSpecialtyLocation
14 weeksAdult Inpatient Family Medicine - SupervisoryPalmdale Regional Medical Center
24 weeksAdult Inpatient Family Medicine - SupervisoryPalmdale Regional Medical Center
34 weeksNight FloatPalmdale Regional Medical Center
44 weeksHealth System ManagementPalmdale Regional Medical Center
54 weeksMedical Subspecialties - Cardiology/Infectious DiseasePalmdale Regional Medical Center
64 weeksMedical Subspecialties - Gastroenterology/HematologyPalmdale Regional Medical Center
74 weeksSurgical Subspecialties - Urology/Wound CarePalmdale Regional Medical Center
84 weeksUnderserved Medicine and Community MedicineBartz-Altadonna Community Health Center
94 weeksElderly CareEllison John Transitional Care Center
104 weeksElectiveTBD
114 weeksElectiveTBD
124 weeksElectiveTBD

PGY-1
BlockWeeksSpecialtyLocation
14 weeksAdult Inpatient Family MedicinePalmdale Regional Medical Center
24 weeksAdult Inpatient Family MedicinePalmdale Regional Medical Center
34 weeksAdult Inpatient Family MedicinePalmdale Regional Medical Center
44 weeksEmergency MedicinePalmdale Regional Medical Center
54 weeksObstetricsPalmdale Regional Medical Center
64 weeksRadiology/Acute RehabPalmdale Regional Medical Center
74 weeksNewborns/ICUPalmdale Regional Medical Center
84 weeksResearch/QIPalmdale Regional Medical Center
94 weeksSurgery/ProcedurePalmdale Regional Medical Center, Bartz-Altadonna Community Health Center, Family First Family Medical Practice
104 weeksBehavioral MedicineBartz-Altadonna Community Health Center
114 weeksWomen's Health/GynecologyWesley Health Center
124 weeksAmbulatory/PediatricsSatey Pediatrics
PGY-2
BlockWeeksSpecialtyLocation
14 weeksAdult Inpatient Family MedicinePalmdale Regional Medical Center
24 weeksAdult Inpatient Family MedicinePalmdale Regional Medical Center
34 weeksAdult Inpatient Family MedicinePalmdale Regional Medical Center
44 weeksNight FloatPalmdale Regional Medical Center
54 weeksObstetrics 2Palmdale Regional Medical Center
62 weeksPediatric Inpatient/EmergencyHuntington Health Hospital
74 weeksMusculoskeletal (Ortho)/Sports MedicineAntelope Valley Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Specialists (AVORS)
84 weeksPain ManagementNeurospine Institute
94 weeksAmbulatory Pediatrics 2Satey Pediatrics
104 weeksElectiveTBD
114 weeksElectiveTBD
124 weeksElectiveTBD
PGY-3
BlockWeeksSpecialtyLocation
14 weeksAdult Inpatient Family Medicine - SupervisoryPalmdale Regional Medical Center
24 weeksAdult Inpatient Family Medicine - SupervisoryPalmdale Regional Medical Center
34 weeksNight FloatPalmdale Regional Medical Center
44 weeksHealth System ManagementPalmdale Regional Medical Center
54 weeksMedical Subspecialties - Cardiology/Infectious DiseasePalmdale Regional Medical Center
64 weeksMedical Subspecialties - Gastroenterology/HematologyPalmdale Regional Medical Center
74 weeksSurgical Subspecialties - Urology/Wound CarePalmdale Regional Medical Center
84 weeksUnderserved Medicine and Community MedicineBartz-Altadonna Community Health Center
94 weeksElderly CareEllison John Transitional Care Center
104 weeksElectiveTBD
114 weeksElectiveTBD
124 weeksElectiveTBD
Notes
  • Paid Time Off (PTO): Residents are allowed 20 days per academic year during outpatient rotations and are allowed five days per block. See Salary & Benefits for more information.
  • Potential Electives include: Addiction Medicine, Urology, Psychiatry, Ophthalmology, ENT, Orthopedics, FMP, Medicine Subspecialties, and Pediatric Subspecialties.
  • The program incorporated research as a continuous element in the Family Medicine Curriculum.

Research and Scholarly Activity

Our program seeks to advance our residents’ knowledge of basic principles of research, including how research is conducted, evaluated, explained to patients and applied to patient care. Residents will develop their research abilities through various activities including Journal Club, Population Health didactics, and Clinical Case Conference didactic sessions.

Residents are assigned faculty mentors to advise and guide them with their research and scholarly activities. Because of its importance, residents will be allotted time during non-call rotations for scholarly activity as well as the ability to request elective time for scholarly pursuits.

All residents are expected to participate in scholarly activity. Residents are to complete at least two Scholarly Activity Projects over the course of their training, one of which must be a quality improvement project. Residents will participate in hospital performance improvement committees and be exposed to ongoing activities taking place at the hospital such as patient safety efforts and quality improvement.

Residents will present their Scholarly Activity Projects during didactic sessions and are encouraged to submit their projects for presentation and/or publication at professional local, regional or national meetings or in peer-reviewed journals.