Department of Medicine

Office Medicine

Elective Coordinators: Bob Badgett, MD & Andy Diehl, MD

Badgett
Office: (210) 617-5110
Badgett@UTHSCSA.edu		 Diehl
Office: (210) 358-3941
Diehl@UTHSCSA.edu


This rotation offers the opportunity to learn useful skills not otherwise taught during the internal medicine residency. You will also have the opportunity to observe the "real world" of private practice.

FORMAT: You may design your own individual curriculum from the following menu of clinics:
  • Dermatology
  • Gyneocology
  • ENT
  • Laboratory medicine
    • Office Laboratory
    • Hematopathology
    • Fine needle aspiration
  • Ophthalmology
  • Orthopedics
  • Pain Clinic
  • Radiology
  • Urology
  • Women's health (breast clinic, women's health)

One day (or half day) weekly will be spent in the practice of a community-based general internist or medicine subspecialist. We recommend that you concentrate your time in no more than two or three specialties. You will maintain your weekly continuity clinics, and have the option of one-half day for reading day per week. You will meet with Dr. Badgett during the final week of the rotation to review your experiences.

Time is allotted to continue one's medicine clinc, attend the Wednesday morning conferences, and to have one additonal half-day of reading per week. All clinics are busy, and you will need to be an aggressive, active learner to maximize your experience.


Months elective is available:All
Maximum number of residents:Two

Please begin planning your rotation now! You must provide Dr. Badgett a copy of your proposed curriculum on or before the first day of the rotation. If necessary, you may use the first morning of the rotation to arrange preceptors (but that time will be considered your reading half-day for that week). Directions for developing your daily schedule are linked at the bottom of this page.

To set up your schedule:

  1. Dr. Badgett will contact you in the month prior to your rotation.
    • Based on your preference in a private preceptor, The Division of General Medicine will call you with the name of your private internist-preceptor.
  2. After you are notified of your preceptor
    1. Fill in your schedule schedule with your internist-preceptor (1/2 to 1 day per week) and your own medicine clinics
    2. Use the list of subelectives to personalize your schedule for theremaining half-days. You are not limited to the options on this list:
      • Many specialty experiences are available with private practitioners. Community practitioners offer the advantage of providing the perspective of an experienced clinician, and are usually highly rated by our residents. Please call or email me if you are interested.
      • You may have your own ideas that are not on the list. Please call Dr. Badgett to obtain approval for other options. Be sure that your proposed preceptor is a clinical faculty of UTHSCSA
    3. Please print your schedule and attach in an email to badgett@uthscsa.edu or fax back to 567-4423, on or before the first day of the rotation.
    4. Schedules can be changed at the end of the first week - but only if a clinic has been unbearable.
  3. You should give a copy of your schedule for the month to all private physicians on the first day you meet with them.

You will pass this rotation if you:

  1. Attend all half days. You may set aside one half day per week for reading. You should attend the regular Housestaff Conferences
  2. Print our guide to observing private practice. Use this guide to learn about your preceptor's practice by talking with the office manager, nurses, etc.
  3. Formulate a clinical question (eg the dx or rx or causation or prognosis of a certain disease) based on a patient you see during the month. Answer this question by either:
  4. Participate in a review session with Dr. Badgett at the end of the month in his office at the VA Hospital (you will be contacted with the date). At that session, you will:
    • review your private preceptor experience with guide to observing private practice
    • review your article from above (you only need to read the abstract and pertinent tables prior to our meeting)
    • discuss entering private practice (you can check our jobs page for further information)
    • complete a course evaluation. We cannot improve this course without your feedback!
  5. At the end of the rotation, you must send to Bob Badgett, your schedule with one signature from each attending physician you worked with. I realize this is awkward, but unfortunate abuses of this rotation have led to this requirement.
  6. Your preceptors give you passing evaluations.
Log into the list of subelectives

Bob Badgett, office 617-5110, email.