Curriculum
Clinical experience
We offer a variety of inpatient and outpatient experiences and capitalize on HonorHealth’s multiple hospital facilities to give residents a diverse and balanced education.
We have a modified X+Y system that separates ambulatory time from inpatient and elective time so residents can give each rotation their full attention and minimize frequent switching between settings.
Inpatient
Our two teaching teams at HonorHealth Thompson Peak Medical Center are each made up of one senior, two interns, and medical students. We rotate calls in a cyclical fashion every four days. This cycle includes a long-call day (admitting until 6 p.m.), a post-call day (a chance to get to know your patients from the prior day), a short call day (admissions for part of the day) and a pre-call day (no admissions, prepare for long-call). As a community hospital, we see a diverse patient population and a variety of pathologies, from “bread-and-butter” cases like congestive heart failure and pneumonia to “zebra’s” such as cardiac myxomas and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
ICU
Residents complete their ICU rotation at Shea Hospital, a 427-bed hospital with 26 ICU beds. Residents work directly with an attending and have access to all procedures. The acuity and pathology are very high, including exposure to patients on ECMO.
Ambulatory
Our residency clinic serves a variety of patients with respect to age, diseases and health literacy/socioeconomic status. Residents carry their own panels of patients and are able to form lasting relationships with them. Residents are given weekly protected administrative time, just as clinicians would receive as part of real-world employment to help manage daily patient care tasks.
In the clinic, residents participate in:
- Chronic disease management
- Acute care visits
- Perioperative medicine
- Women’s health
- Office procedures
- Telemedicine
- LGBTQ health
Designer electives
Residents can create electives that might not already be in place. Some recent examples include:
- Hyperbaric wound therapy
- Sports medicine
- Congenital cardiology at Phoenix’s Children’s Hospital
- Advanced critical care at HonorHealth Deer Valley Medical Center and John C. Lincoln Medical Center
- Bone Marrow Transplant at HonorHealth Scottsdale Shea Medical Center
Off-site experiences
As a part of their core rotations, our residents consistently get to experience care and increased diversity of patients at:
- ICU – HonorHealth Scottsdale Shea Medical Center
- Geriatrics – Mayo Clinic in Arizona
- Endocrinology and Physical Medicine Rehab - Phoenix Veteran’s Affairs Hospital
- Advanced inpatient medicine – HonorHealth John C. Lincoln Medical Center
- Neuro ICU – HonorHealth Osborn
- Underserved primary care – St. Vincent De Paul and Circle the City
Global health clinical track
HonorHealth offers a multi-specialty global health track for interested residents. The track involves a longitudinal partnership with a site in Arusha, Tanzania, where residents have the opportunity to educate physicians and staff abroad and travel to Tanzania to practice medicine.