Continuity Clinic

The Henry Ford Hospital Internal Medicine Residency program is committed to providing ambulatory medicine training to best prepare our residents for their future. The continuity clinic experience is an integral portion of this training, allowing residents to learn how to manage both common and complicated outpatient conditions and to follow patients longitudinally over time.

All residents have a continuity clinic at the Academic Internal Medicine clinic at the Henry Ford Main Campus in Detroit. Our Academic Internal Medicine is unique in many ways. Hear more about your experience in continuity clinic and with ambulatory education from Dr. Heidemann:

We value education. Academic Internal Medicine aims to advance our community's health and well-being and educate tomorrow's healthcare leaders. One half-hour weekly session is devoted to small group discussion of an ambulatory topic. We have a robust online curriculum with up-to-date articles discussed in an interactive small-group setting with medical students, residents, and senior staff. During educational sessions, we incorporate board preparation, evidence-based medicine, systems-based practice, panel management, and quality metrics.

We have a robust interdisciplinary team-care model. This team consists of medical assistants, nurses, case managers, health psychologists, and pharmacists who help care for complex patients. We have protocols that allow our team members to up-titrate insulin and antihypertensive medications for our patients between office visits with physicians. We have a team of on-site case managers to help meet the complex social needs of our patients. Our health psychology team can do short therapeutic interventions and help triage patients in clinics. Our medical assistants and nurses help with patient workflow and in-clinic interventions such as EKGs, and IV fluids.

We strive for continuity of care. As residents see patients in the clinic, they become their preferred providers and build their panel over time.

We take feedback seriously. Residents receive quarterly feedback on objective measures, including panel size, quality metrics, and patient satisfaction comments. Residents remain with the same preceptor for the duration of their training, allowing them to develop a professional relationship with one of our core medical faculty.

The continuity clinic is scheduled for one week of every outpatient block for interns. Second and third years have a traditional one or two half-days per week of continuity clinic, depending on the rotation. There is no clinic during night float or ICU months.

In addition to the weekly continuity clinic, all residents will complete two outpatient electives prior to graduation. The Same Day Clinic increases intern exposure to acute outpatient complaints. The Geriatrics, outreach, and ambulatory telemedicine (GOAT) -elective consists of telemedicine visits to train residents in virtual care. It also consists of patient outreach and panel management.

For residents interested in pursuing a career in general medicine, additional electives are available including allergy, dermatology, endocrinology, rheumatology, gynecology, sports medicine, infectious disease clinic, oncology clinic, pulmonary clinic, and sleep medicine.