Firmly rooted in the tradition of general internal medicine, hospital medicine has become an attractive career option for a significant number of MaineHealth Maine Medical Center (MHMMC) internal medicine residency graduates. Though many hospitalist skill sets (cognitive, procedural and systems) are embedded in the traditional training program, there are elements which are distinct from those required by the internist pursuing a career in primary care or additional fellowship training.
Since 2015, our hospitalist pathway program has provided the opportunity for residents to pursue focused hospitalist training during the final 18 months of their residency. Interested residents may “opt-in” to the hospitalist pathway during their second year of residency.
Elements of the 18-month, hospital medicine (HM) track include:
- Dedicated mentorship with a HM physician
- Hospital Medicine Journal Club (at the homes of HM attendings)
- MHMMC Hospitalist Rotation (experience on non-teaching teams)
- MHMMC “Admitter” Rotation (robust experience with admissions and exposure to outside hospital transfer calls)
- “Rural Hospitalist” Rotation at MaineHealth Stephens Hospital in Norway, ME or Mount Desert Island Hospital in Bar Harbor, ME
- Care Transitions Rotation (experience with the process of transferring a patient’s care from one setting to another)
- Clinical Pharmacy Rotation (antimicrobial stewardship, anticoagulation)
- Inpatient QI project
- MHMMC Committee participation
- Hospitalist-specific didactics on practice management, coding, etc.