Clinical Services

Below is a list of clinical services for Transitional, Internal Medicine and Surgery Education.

At Tucson Medical Center, University Medical Center and the VA Medical Center, first year residents are

responsible for approximately six to twelve patients at any given time, each in conjunction with a supervising

senior resident, under the ultimate guidance of the attending physician. At Tucson Medical Center, THMEP

residents care for select patients admitted by community-based members of the teaching faculty or by one of

TMC’s Hospitalists. The TMC Hospitalists, a group of full-time inpatient physicians, are key teaching faculty

in the THMEP program. At both UMC and the VA, each medicine team cares for patients under the direction

of a single attending physician, who is responsible for overseeing both patient care and educational content.

Separate Intensive Care Units (ICU) and Cardiac Care Units (CCU) services are maintained at University

Medical Center, with Internal Medicine residents rotating through these services. At TMC and SAVAMC,

the Inpatient Medicine months include the care of patients in both the General Medicine Units and in the

Critical Care Units.

Transitional year residents participate in an Emergency Medicine rotation for a total of one month at Tucson Medical Center.

Full time attending Emergency Medicine physicians oversee medical education and patient care.

Residents learn to handle all types of emergency situations, with consultation readily available from the specialty staff.

Post-graduate year three (PGY 3) Categorical Internal Medicine residents participate for a total of one month in

the Emergency Department at TMC, which is the busiest Emergency Department in Tucson.

Categorical Medicine residents return one month during their PGY 2 year participating in a Community Medicine

rotation with one of several large Internal Medicine practices in the community, to gain a realistic community-based

outpatient experience under the guidance of one or more experienced clinicians.

A Community Medicine rotation is available to Transitional residents on an elective basis.

Categorical residents during their PGY 2 year participate in a month long MEC/Ambulatory Specialties experience.

The MEC is a fast-paced section within the TMC Emergency Department, caring for a diverse group of patients

with illnesses significant enough to warrant emergency care, but probably not requiring hospital admission. Two weeks

are devoted to the MEC, with the following two weeks spent rotating between the Ambulatory Specialties in the

community. Examples would include minor fractures and dislocations, lacerations, cellulitis, Todd’s paralysis,

and aseptic meningitis.

A full complement of elective services is available to THMEP Transitional residents in consultation with the program

director. Elective opportunities not listed below can usually be arranged, either at TMC, UMC the VA or in

coordination with other institutions.

Anesthesiology	Cardiology	Dermatology
Endocrinology	Gastroenterology	Hematology/Oncology
Infectious Diseases	Nephrology	Neurology
Obstetrics*	Ophthalmology	Orthopedics Outpatient
Otorhinolaryngology	Pediatrics Inpatient	Pediatrics Outpatient
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation	Psychiatry	Pulmonary/ICU
Radiology or Neuroradiology	Rheumatology	and others......

The General Surgery rotation is for one month at TMC. Attended by Transitional residents, this service TMC-based and is part of the

integrated Tucson Hospitals-University of Arizona Department of Surgery program, which is an sponsored by both THMEP and the

University of Arizona.