Rural and Community Medicine
MaineHealth Maine Medical Center (MHMMC) is uniquely situated in the largest city in one of the most rural states in America. As the only IM program in Maine, we recognize our important role in training internal medicine physicians to be comfortable practicing in multiple settings, including urban areas, smaller communities, and the rural parts of our state. While the majority of our resident’s training occurs in an urban tertiary care center, our program provides all of our residents with training opportunities in rural communities of Maine. Rural and community-based practice sites are carefully chosen and preceptors have been selected for their interest and skill in teaching. All second-year residents spend up to one month experiencing practice in a rural environment, where they are exposed to the practice of internal medicine in both ambulatory and hospital settings away from the subspecialty environment of MHMMC. Residents can also choose to spend additional months in rural settings as part of their elective time. Many of our residents have chosen careers in primary care medicine or rural hospital medicine after this rewarding experience. For prospective residents interested in a more longitudinal rural medicine training opportunity, we offer the Rural Internal Medicine Maine (RIMM) track program.
International Health
The International Health Clinic has served the international community of Portland and Cumberland County for over 20 years. Portland has a diverse international community, with over 50 languages spoken in the public school system. The bulk of immigrants are from Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Middle East, and many parts of Africa. We have invested in the care of these patients by funding a multi-disciplinary clinic staffed with dedicated physicians, nurses, interpreters, and other cultural support services critical to international health. International medicine is an important part of the ambulatory experience on the 2-week Bramhall rotation each year. Our residents also receive a specific didactic curriculum in health issues specific to refugees and international travelers.
Away Rotations in International Health
Many of our Internal Medicine residents have broadened their international medicine experience with electives in Vietnam, India, Nepal, Botswana, Mexico, Honduras, Paraguay, Thailand, Poland, Dominican Republic, Tanzania, and Haiti. The residency program offers some financial support for resident international rotations through a competitive grant application process.
Resident as Teacher
The program aims to help residents develop their skills in teaching, recognizing that a successful career as a physician requires the ability to teach patients, caregivers, students, fellow residents, interprofessional colleagues, and the public. Our longitudinal Resident as Teacher program begins intern year and continues throughout residency, and includes sessions embedded into the Academic Half-Days such as, “Setting a healthy learning climate”, “Rounding strategies on the wards”, and “Feedback and Evaluation.” Outside of this didactic series, there are multiple opportunities for residents to develop their formal teaching skills, notably including their mentored PGY-2 Evidence-Based Medicine and PGY-3 Morbidity and Mortality presentations, and case-based teaching at morning report. Our online learning management system (Canvas) includes a “Physicians as Educators” course which is available to all residents. The MaineHealth Institute for Teaching Excellence (MITE) has many medical education offerings for residents, including monthly teaching tips and the Medical Education Grand Rounds series. For residents who want additional medical education experience, there is the Clinical Teaching Certificate through MITE (Clinical Teaching Certificate - MITE Institute for Teaching Excellence) as well as the opportunity to participate in teaching medical student morning reports.
Health care for the Unhoused Community
All of our residents complete a rotation at MaineHealth Preble Street Learning Collaborative Portland (PSLC). The PSLC addresses the needs and care of people experiencing homelessness through education and outreach. Residents with strong interest in homeless health can do additional electives or set up longitudinal learning experiences at PSLC.
Ultrasound
All residents participate in our formal, longitudinal POCUS curriculum. Training experience with ultrasound begins during intern orientation, when our new interns are introduced to POCUS through simulation, including the physics of ultrasound, the basics of operating a bedside ultrasound device, and use of POCUS for the safe performance of medical procedures. All of our interns then complete a two-week rotation in POCUS under the direction of a core faculty group of hospitalists. Our residents are then provided with mentorship and feedback as they gain practical experience with applying ultrasound to their patient care throughout residency. Additional rotations where ultrasound is utilized include inpatient general medicine, critical care, CICU, inpatient cardiology, emergency medicine, pulmonary consult, rheumatology and primary care clinics.