title: An integrated residency in internal and preventive medicine.
abstract: The importance of preventive and population-based principles in clinical practice is widely acknowledged. The challenge of imparting these principles in either undergraduate or postgraduate medical education has, however, not been fully met. The necessary skills are provided comprehensively by preventive medicine residency programs, but at the expense of clinical training. Sequential residencies in primary care and preventive medicine, the currently available means of obtaining thorough preparation in both clinical and population-based principles, represent an inefficient, generally unappealing, and non-integrated approach. In response to these concerns, and in an effort to make preventive medicine training appeal to a wider audience, the authors developed and implemented a residency program fully integrating internal and preventive medicine. The program meets, and generally exceeds, the requirements of both specialty boards over a four-year period. The program provides extensive training in clinical, preventive, and public health skills, along with case management and cost-effective care, conferring the MPH degree and leading to dual board eligibility. The model is ideally wed to the demands of the modern health care environment in the United States, is extremely attractive to applicants, and may warrant replication both to train academic and administrative leaders and to raise the standards of preventive and public health practice in primary care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Griffin Hospital, Derby, Connecticut 06418, USA. katzdl@pol.net
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Katz
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nawaz
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ahmadi
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Jekel
authors.forename: V A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: DeLuca
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cashman
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Fulmer
mesh_terms: D000068:Accreditation; D000288:Administrative Personnel; D019090:Case Management; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000193:education*; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000145:classification / Q000458:organization & administration; D017145:Models, Educational; D011315:Preventive Medicine / Q000193:education*; D016730:Program Development; D011634:Public Health / Q000193:education / Q000592:standards; D012570:School Admission Criteria; D013044:Specialty Boards; D014146:Training Support; D014481:United States