Last month, the Division of Family Medicine welcomed new residents. The 2015-2016 academic year is a milestone for us as we increase our program size from four first-year resident positions to a fifth placement.
This year’s class includes graduates from the west coast, New York and North Carolina. Read more about each of our new residents:
- Brian Blank, M.D.
- Sam Fam, DO
- Jonathan Hedrick, M.D.
- Jonathan Jimenez, M.D.
- Everlyn Perez, M.D.
Resident orientation
Resident orientation at Duke Family Medicine is a three-week intensive process. It is designed to ground the new residents in their new clinical and social environment.
This year’s orientation began with an interactive team building session facilitated by recent graduate Aaron George, DO, where we learned that five-year-olds are better at building marshmallow structures than engineer or doctors.
Orientation continued with a combination of didactic and interactive lectures, procedural skill workshops, standardized patient encounters, and computer-guided patient simulations. Sessions were taught by faculty and upper level residents within Duke Community and Family Medicine, as well as a diverse compliment of instructors from the larger community.
First-year residents also followed faculty members through a clinic session in a process known as “shadowing” where they learned in real time how to incorporate the electronic health record into the patient encounter. The final step, then, was to have the faculty member shadow the new resident throughout a clinic session.
Now that orientation within our building is complete, the residents will have a week in the community to meet with some of our partners and learn of the resources our community offers, and how they can assist our patients where they live and work.
We look forward to an exciting year!
Donna M. Tuccero is assistant program director of the Duke Family Medicine Residency Program. Email donna.tuccero@dm.duke.eduwith questions.
Editor’s note: A member of the Duke Family Medicine Residency Program leadership team guest blogs every month.