Family Medicine Residency Curriculum

The purpose of the organized, procedural Family Medicine Residency curriculum at Wake Forest School of Medicine is to ensure that residents in training have appropriate exposure, both cognitively and experientially, to procedures in family medicine.

A full spectrum of office procedures is available for residents to master including:

• Circumcisions
• Colposcopy
• Common skin biopsies (punch, shave, elliptical excisions)
• Cryotherapy
• Endometrial biopsies
• Epidermal inclusion cyst removal
• Exercise treadmill testing
• Inpatient procedures (US guided IVs, paracentesis, lumbar puncture)
• Long-acting reversible contraception (Nexplanon, IUD)
• Musculoskeletal injections
• Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT)
• POCUS
• Toenail excision
• Vasectomy
• Wound care

Residents are introduced to clinical research concepts through short educational seminars as part of our didactic curriculum. Residents are also guided through a quality improvement project by a faculty mentor allowing them to meet ABFM requirements, learn about their own individual clinic performance, and become familiar implementing simple research design and analysis.

Active research conducted by faculty in our department includes exercise and nutrition habits, sports medicine, poultry processing and migrant farm workers, medical education, and work with the school based health alliance. Residents are encouraged to connect with mentors in these areas to assist with ongoing projects or develop ideas of their own.

Playing an important role in learning and collaboration, conferences include:

• Noon conference schedule with 2-3 departmental conferences per week throughout the year.
• One day each month, all residents gather for a resident meeting and afternoon seminar, providing the opportunity for regrouping and a shared intensive learning experience.
• Each class has its own additional monthly half-day seminar with teaching and hands-on experiences targeted to their level of training.
• A peer support session with behavioral science and/or clinical faculty during their seminar days.
• One-on-one monitoring of clinical work involving videotaping, closed-circuit TV and direct observation.

Residents also play an active role on departmental committees such as residency selection, curriculum, quality improvement, patient advisory council, wellness and clinic improvement. Additionally, each new resident is assigned a faculty advisor for their three years of training.

Continuity Clinic

Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Family Medicine Piedmont Plaza is the primary continuity clinic for both residents and faculty and administrative home for the residency. The practice is a 20,000-square-foot center that offers patients, staff and physicians the benefits of a community setting with over 50 providers at the center, including faculty, integrated behavioral health providers, residents, and advanced practice providers. In addition to other blocks and rotations, residents are scheduled at Piedmont Plaza for care of their own panel of patients for one to four half days depending on the year of training. A ratio of at least one preceptor for every three to four residents in the clinic is maintained to enhance the training experience and emphasis is placed on clinical decision-making in the ambulatory setting. In addition, residents have the opportunity to educate and mentor Wake Forest medical students who all rotate through our practice. Beyond standard clinic visits, our center also offers group medical visits for chronic disease management and group pediatric visits.

Residents care for a wide variety of patients across all ages, backgrounds, and stages of life, providing a truly comprehensive family medicine experience. Our clinic serves a diverse patient population that includes children, adolescents, adults, pregnant women, and older adults, allowing residents to develop skills in caring for individuals and families throughout the lifespan. Patients represent a broad range of cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Residents also gain experience working with individuals insured through managed care, fee-for-service plans, Medicare, and Medicaid, preparing them to practice confidently in a variety of healthcare settings.

Atrium Wake Forest Baptist

Medical Center

• Family Medicine inpatient service: We care for patients assigned to our practice and three local sister practices admitting adult and pediatric patients.
• Birthing center
• Medical ICU
• Adult and Pediatric ED
• Pediatric Hospital
• Adult and Pediatric subspecialty

High Point Medical Center

• Adult Inpatient Medicine

Davie Medical Center

• Emergency room care
• Subspecialty clinics

Community Clinics

• Peace Haven Family Medicine
• Highland Avenue Family Medicine
• United Health Center (FQHC)
• Community Care Center
• Stokes County Health Department
• Obstetrics and Gynecology- Wilkesboro
• VAMC Salisbury and Kernersville