Primary Care Track
Welcome to the Primary Care Track at Cooper!
Our Primary Care track was created in 2011 and has grown to five residents per class. We are a tight-knit community focusing on providing culturally competent, cost-conscious, evidence based primary care to diverse populations.
While we are lucky to have a "program within a program," the PC track is also fully integrated within the larger Internal Medicine program. This provides support and mentorship from all of Program Leadership and co-residents. The structure of our program is a 4+2 model that tracks with the categorical track so residents travel with their peers throughout residency. The primary care residents are grouped in two cohorts to share in clinical experiences together and have many unique experiences throughout their three years. PGY-2s and PGY-3s have a dedicated four-week outpatient clinic block in addition to their +2 ambulatory weeks to increase exposure to the outpatient experience and provide a true window into the daily practice of primary care medicine. For the PGY2s, they precept in the CMSRU student clinic, work in an interdisciplinary team with a clinical pharmacist, and have clinical hours in their primary clinic site. The PGY3s work with a primary care doctor in a more suburban practice during their month to better understand the business side of medicine and how to manage career challenges such as volume, billing, and office management. PGY3s also rotate in a controlled substance clinic, which is based in a rural primary care setting with board certified addiction medicine providers.
Our PGY2s and PGY3s also participate in at-home after-hours call with back up from attendings to learn this important skill while they are residents. The track also includes a home visit experience with a geriatrician to see patients in a different clinical environment and help establish goals of care. Each ambulatory block, the primary care residents have an additional primary care didactics session for more dedicated education in primary care topics. Finally, all primary care residents receive a half day during their clinical week to participate in community engagement in Camden to better learn the lived experience of their patients.
Through our didactic series, clinical experiences, and the population we serve in Camden, NJ our residents learn to treat patients in the dynamic, complex healthcare system with special attention to vulnerable populations including medically underserved patients, patients with mental health issues including substance abuse, and trauma informed care. Our program is also dedicated to fostering community and belonging through mentoring efforts, curricular changes, and recruitment outreach strategies as well as a focus on clinical practices and teaching for fairness and non-discrimination in health care.
I invite you to explore our program and to reach out with any questions.
*Two of our five incoming residents may be matched through an accelerated 3-year primary care training program offered at our affiliated medical school, CMSRU.
- Continuity clinic for PC residents in suite 502, Camden, our most medically and socially complex clinic, where residents develop their own patient panel over the course of 3 years and truly become the primary doctor for a panel of patients.
- One additional 4-week clinic block assigned in both the PGY2 and PGY3 years designed to be an immersive experience for PC residents to hone their outpatient skills. These weeks include one-on-one shadowing and feedback sessions with program leadership for coaching and development.
- Primary care home call during the PGY2 and PGY3 years overseen by core faculty.
- Home visits with a Geriatrician from the VA during the PGY2 year.
- Half day during clinic week participating in Community Engagement in Camden City.
- Access to outpatient subspeciality electives created specifically for future Primary Care providers such as Women’s Health, Outpatient Dermatology, Outpatient Cardiology, Sports medicine and more.
- Dedicated primary care lecture series every sixth week of the year - all PC residents are relieved of clinical duties to attend this academic half day. These didactics feature lectures and outpatient focused procedure workshops including sublocade injections and skin biopsies. Resident input is encouraged for didactics, and PGY2s can teach a topic of their choosing.
Like the Categorical track, this is a three-year Internal Medicine residency and graduates are ABIM board eligible in Internal Medicine at the end of their training. Residents in the Primary Care track are full and equal members of the Internal Medicine residency program, with all of the same benefits and support.
When you are on the inpatient rotations, there is absolutely no distinction made between residents who are on either track. You may be more likely to work with other primary care residents while on inpatient due to the cohort schedule.
Yes. The goal of this track is to graduate physicians who are exceedingly well prepared for careers in primary care as clinicians, researchers, community activists, public health administrators, and other positions at the forefront of primary medical care. That said, graduates of primary care tracks across the country do change their minds and enter a subspecialty. Recent graduates have gone into rheumatology, palliative care, addiction medicine, endocrinology, gastroenterology, and geriatrics. The training you receive will certainly prepare you for any path.
Yes! The number for the Primary Care Track in the NRMP is 1380140M0.
