Our Curriculum
Preparing You for Practice
As a resident in our program, your educational experience will be individualized for the unique interests of each resident. We recognize residency as just the beginning of your lifelong learning experience. During your three years of residency, experienced faculty will help guide you in developing self-directed lifelong learning skills to enable a career rich with opportunity and success.
You will work with a faculty coach to guide you in establilshing attainable short and long term goals. Along with your coach, the residency leadership will work with you and provide the learning opportunities and resources to attain these self-directed goals. Essential to your development as an outstanding family physician is mastery of patient-centered care, evidence-based medicine, and reflective practice. Our curriculum balances these aspects and provides an environment which respects individual learning needs and personal goals.
The "Building Blocks" of our Curriculum
Behavioral Science Curriculum
The Behavioral Science Curriculum, spanning all three years of the residency, has been built on an integrative model of care that places psychologists in primary care settings working closely with family physicians. The curriculum is comprehensive and employs many teaching strategies, including the active learning of dual interviews, direct observation, videotape review, workshops on communication and counseling skills, didactics, consultation, and provider well-being discussions. Residents have the opportunity for intensive motivational interviewing training with a national expert, to provide our patients with the tools to make the changes that will have the greatest impact on their health.
Children's Health Curriculum
Our children’s health curriculum is created to give residents a robust training in all the facets of caring for children of any age. During the three years of residency, residents rotate through a busy inpatient pediatric service, a level one trauma pediatric emergency room, a level three NICU, the newborn nursery and ambulatory pediatric clinics. In addition to these unique experiences, residents build their practice at their health center to include children of varying ages and to learn about primary care of children through caring for families. Through rotations, didactics, an online curriculum and multiple opportunities for additional training in specific areas of interest, residents receive exceptional training in caring for children.
Family Medicine Inpatient Service
Our residency provides its residents with an unsurpassed education in adult inpatient medicine. You will care for patients who receive their primary care at each of our three health centers, as well as patients admitted to other family physicians in the community, and to the Family Medicine hospitalists. Our diverse patient population is cared for by family physicians. Teaching is provided in the form of bedside rounds, daily morning report case presentations, and interactive didactics. You will also experience a multi-disciplinary approach to patient care and will work closely with behavioral scientists, nurses, case managers, social workers, and consultants from other specialties.
Having our own inpatient adult medicine service allows our residents to take ownership of their patients, their learning, and the rotation. Resident feedback is valued and your voice will be heard. If you are seeking an educational and exciting adult inpatient experience that you can make your own, the UMass Worcester Family Medicine Inpatient Service may be just what you are looking for.
Family Medicine-Obstetrics Curriculum
Our Family Medicine-Obstetrics (FM-OB) curriculum is a strong program with our department delivering over 400 infants per year. As a resident on the FM-OB rotation, you will have the opportunity to provide family-centered maternity and newborn care. Working directly with family medicine faculty physicians from the three residency health centers as well as community practices, you will care for a diverse group of patients and families. The knowledge and skills you acquire on this service will allow you to provide outstanding obstetrical care with a familycentered approach and will prepare you for a variety of future practice settings.