Northwest Healthcare Tucson’s Internal Medicine Residency Program is a community-based internal medicine training program that is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME: 1400300004).
Our residency program is accepting applications for next class of thirteen PGY-1 residents to start in July 1, 2025. Once our program is fully built, we will have a full complement of 39 residents in the program. Currently, our program trains 38 physicians.
Northwest Healthcare Tucson has a lot to offer residents. Our community teaching hospital system consists of four community hospitals, two free standing emergency departments and six urgent care centers in the greater metropolitan Tucson area. Northwest Transitions is an acute rehabilitation facility located on the campus of Northwest Medical Center. Northwest Primary & Specialty Care Physicians, our multi-specialty group, consists of nearly 100 providers in 25 clinic locations throughout the region.
Additionally, because Tucson is the largest metropolitan area in southern Arizona, we are a referral center for much of the region from Tucson south to the Mexican border and into Southern New Mexico. This allows us to introduce resident physicians to a wide range of medical management, treatment and support services.
Residents receive firsthand experience with a wealth of patient care opportunities and a diverse patient population through an innovative approach to internal medicine residency training that balances education, training and well-being.
All of us at Northwest Healthcare Tucson look forward to the addition of the next generation of resident physicians within our community teaching hospital system. Our leadership is committed to fostering dynamic learning environments and our diverse allopathic and osteopathic faculty, with extensive medical education experience, are ready to guide you on your career path.
A robust educational experience and the opportunity to explore your career interests is yours at Northwest Healthcare Tucson!
The Northwest Healthcare Tucson Internal Medicine residency program provides learners with a structured academic foundation rich with patient care diversity, subspecialty exposure and research opportunities. The learning environment is one of respect and support between learners, staff, faculty and leadership. The didactic lecture series is structured as a protected and dedicated weekly academic half-day.
Case presentations are held in a relaxed environment allowing for group discussion of clinical cases with a multidisciplinary approach. Cases are broken down to help learners formulate assessments and care plans on complex patients. Sub-specialists join discussions to add their clinical knowledge to the case.
While in-person participation will be required for most, all sessions will be offered virtually as well. Sessions will also be recorded and the material available online so those absent can review from anywhere, at any time.
Our program’s core purpose is to design and support an internal medicine residency program that develops board certified physicians of the future who expertly and empathetically serve the communities in which they choose to practice. Our curriculum is designed to prepare physicians for success in whatever career path they choose through intentional balance of inpatient, sub-specialty and outpatient care using a modified 4+1 training model to structure the three years of training.
Each academic year is divided into 10, five-week clinical education blocks and a dedicated two-week vacation block (there’s two additional weeks of vacation as well). The first four weeks of each block are dedicated to the assigned rotation. What that means is, if you are on inpatient service, then you’re on inpatient service and there will be no additional clinical assignments, such as the continuity clinic housed at Fountains Plaza Medical Offices on Northwest Medical Center’s main campus.
The fifth week of each block is dedicated to ambulatory clinical experiences which includes a dedicated, assigned panel of patients within the program’s continuity clinic. This model allows residents to be fully present and immersed in the content of each rotation instead of dividing attention between competing priorities.
To put it into perspective, a sample five-week clinical schedule for a first year resident is provided below.
| Week 1 | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service | OFF | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service |
| Week 2 | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service | OFF | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service |
| Week 3 | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service | OFF |
| Week 4 | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service | OFF | 7am – 7pm: Inpatient Teaching Service |
| Week 5 | 8am – 5pm: IM Continuity Clinic | 8am – 5pm: IM Continuity Clinic | 8am – 12pm: IM Continuity Clinic / 1 – 5pm: IM Subspecialty Clinic | 8am – 12pm: Reading / 12 – 5pm: Academic Half-Day | 8am – 5pm: IM Subspecialty Clinic | OFF | OFF |
More broadly, Northwest Healthcare Tucson’s Internal Medicine residents receive a well-rounded approach to their three years of training with an inpatient-intense first year and inpatient/outpatient balanced second and third years of training. Our program curriculum includes 32 weeks of elective time so that residents actively participate in the design of a training experience that prepares them for their chosen career path and Board exam.
| Inpatient Medicine (Days and Nights) | 20 weeks of Days, 4 weeks of Nights | 12 weeks of Days, 4 weeks of Nights | 8 weeks of Days, 4 weeks of Nights |
| Outpatient Medicine (Continuity Clinic + Subspecialty Clinics) | 10 weeks | 10 weeks | 10 weeks |
| Cardiology | N/A | 4 weeks | N/A |
| Critical Care Medicine (ICU) | 8 weeks | 4 weeks | 8 weeks |
| Emergency Medicine | 2 weeks | N/A | 2 weeks |
| Geriatric Medicine | N/A | 2 weeks | 2 weeks |
| Neurology | N/A | 2 weeks | N/A |
| Electives | 6 weeks | 14 weeks | 18 weeks |
| Total | 52 weeks | 52 weeks | 52 weeks |
Elective options include any of the Internal Medicine subspecialties (Cardiology, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Geriatrics, Hematology, Hospice/Palliative Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Medical Oncology, Nephrology, Rheumatology, Sleep Medicine, Sports Medicine), Behavioral Medicine, Dermatology, Neurology, Radiology, and Research. The program will also consider requests for resident-designed electives.
Northwest Healthcare Tucson Internal Medicine Residency Program faculty pride ourselves on hosting an exceptional educational experience from beginning to end. Teaching teams are overseen by board certified physician faculty who value the opportunity to educate trainees. Our faculty guide and support resident physicians’ decision-making and work with learners to successfully move through progressive levels of responsibility and patient care.