Didactics

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    Over the last five years we have enjoyed a 92% board pass rate. Our daily board review is taught by Dr. Brian Gable. Each month, a separate subspecialty is selected for discussion and study. During these interactive sessions, ABIM style questions are used to stimulate discussion of all pertinent aspects of a particular topic. This includes pathophysiology, epidemiology, clinical manifestations, diagnostic approach, prognosis and evidence-based management of relevant disease processes. Advanced organizers, photographs, diagrams and other multimedia (videos, audio of heart sounds/breath sounds) are utilized to enhance the learning process. In addition, each session is recorded and immediately made available to the residents through an electronic medium that can be accessed remotely via smart phone or webcast to be viewed at the residents’ convenience.

    These sessions occur two to three times per week. During these active discussions, case presentations are conducted by residents currently rotating on the medical teaching service and the discussion is facilitated by program leadership. Objectives of these sessions include data gathering, creation of an accurate problem representation, hypothesis generation, and the activation and comparison of illness scripts to develop a working diagnosis. In addition, relevant aspects of the evidence-based physical examination and pathophysiology are reviewed, as are a proficient diagnostic strategy and evidence-based management plan.

    All third-year residents are required to partake in subspecialty rounds which provides an opportunity to present a topic at noon conference in a subspeciality area such as cardiology, pulmonology, nephrology, addiction medicine, palliative care, etc. What makes this noon conference unique, is having the presence of a faculty member within that subspeciality to help enrich the discussion of the topic at hand. Preparation for the conference involves collaborating with the subspeciality attending to guide the content of the lecture, including relevant journal articles and following a set of general guidelines for a content-rich presentation.

    Given bimonthly by regional and national experts, these sessions focus on the latest advances in all disciplines of medicine. Topics range from general medicine and its subspecialties to humanities and cultural competencies.

    • Journal Club
    • Art of Medicine
    • Evidence-Based Physical Diagnosis
    • Business of Medicine
    • History of Medicine
    • Resident Wellness
    • Interdisciplinary Conference
    • Primary Care Lecture Series
    • Cardiology Lecture Series
    • Nephrology Cases 

    Our internal medicine residency program holds journal club at least once monthly which takes place during noon conference. The presenting resident selects a recently published journal article from a top tier journal to present. What sets our journal club apart is that the presenting resident is able to meet with Cooper's Chief of Medicine Dr. Stephen Trzeciak, author of over 100 peer review journal articles including three in the New England Journal of Medicine, to discuss the merits and drawbacks of the article. Both the resident and Dr. Trzeciak present the article together in a collaborative effort at noon conference.

    In an age of medical technology, it is as important as ever to master the art of bedside diagnosis. Drs. Ritesh Patel and Brian Gable have created a series of practical and educational activities to bring our residents back to the bedside. These sessions include didactic sessions about the evidence behind physical examination. The residents are formally trained in the performance of maneuvers and their positive predictive values and likelihood ratios. This knowledge is then applied on weekly bedside evidence-based physical diagnosis rounds. During these rounds, members from our medical teaching service perform key physical diagnosis maneuvers under the tutelage of our faculty.