The Northwest Healthcare (Tucson) Transitional Year Residency Program is a comprehensive year of fundamental clinical skills that prepares residents of all career interests for their next step towards becoming a board-certified physician in the field of their choosing. Accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME ID: 9990300002), our residency program is accepting applications through ERAS for a training start date of July 1, 2024. Residents will train alongside our sister program, Northwest Healthcare (Tucson) Internal Medicine Residency.
The primary clinical site for our program is Northwest Healthcare – Tucson, locally known as Northwest Medical Center. Northwest Medical Center is a 300-bed acute care hospital located in Tucson, Arizona. The campus is comprised of inpatient facilities as well as several primary care outpatient clinics with family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics & gynecology, pediatrics, surgery and most subspecialties represented. Residents training at this primary institution will be integrated into our team-oriented working environment with the full support of hospital administration, the medical staff, the program’s faculty and staff, and all other valued members of the patient care team. Electives are anticipated to be a mix of inpatient and outpatient experiences based on the individualized needs of the resident with most outpatient subspecialty clinics within one block (three-minute walk) of the main building.
The Northwest Healthcare Tucson Transitional Year residency program provides learners with a structured academic foundation rich with patient care diversity, subspecialty exposure and research opportunities in collaboration with our internal medicine residency program. 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.
Clinical training within our program is structured as thirteen (13) four-week blocks. Residents receive a solid foundational training in internal medicine, critical care medicine, outpatient medicine, and emergency medicine throughout this one-year program. Residents also receive five blocks of electives. Electives are determined in concert with the resident, resident mentor and the program director to support each resident’s unique career interests.
Our program also provides support for studying and taking USMLE Step 3 or COMLEX-USA Level 3. If a resident takes the exam during the transitional year, the cost of the registration for the first exam attempt is covered by the program.
Below is an outline of the number of block rotations each resident will be assigned during this transitional year.
Elective options include anesthesiology, general surgery, ambulatory care, emergency medicine, cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, hematology/oncology, infectious diseases, nephrology, obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, sports medicine, outpatient pediatrics, pulmonary, radiology and rheumatology.
All residents receive four weeks of vacation and up to two weeks of paid sick leave.