At Ohio State we believe in helping our residents develop the knowledge, attitudes and skills they need to succeed in their chosen careers. We are committed to providing the best education in the most supportive environment possible.

To that end, our high quality inpatient rotations and outpatient rotations are supplemented by a new web based curriculum which includes full text article links to support our learning objectives as well as core clinical images and links to self assessment sites. Our educational conferences are diverse in their content and format. We also provide the opportunity for residents to tailor their educational experience to build on their special interests and goals through the use of enrichment activities and electives. Our residents will graduate as highly trained clinicians who also have gained additional “life skills” which will serve them well whether their subsequent home will be in academics or in private practice.

Residents interested in a career as a clinician educator can choose to participate in clinical teaching skills seminars and medical education research months. Residents inclined towards a career as an investigator may elect to participate in one or more months of mentored bench or clinical research. Residents who envision a career as a primary care physician have the opportunity to work on institutional quality assurance committees and use elective time to pursue international health rotations.  Residents who plan a hospitalist career can choose to rotate with our hospitalist service and also work with internists who co-manage patients on the surgical service, a unique general medicine consultative model. Residents with an interest in the business side of medicine have benefited from elective months spent working with physician administrators.

Mentors
While not a highly formal, structured program, early establishment of mentors in encouraged by the design of our training program.  Based on the career interests the intern is entertaining, interns are linked to faculty that can provide further advice and potentially guide the intern through a scholarly project as part of their career development elective and possibly additional months.  These links are sometimes with the general and subspecialty faculty attendings they work with on the wards, as the majority of our attendings pride themselves as clinicians.  Others are friendly referrals from a director, chief resident or colleague.  Faculty mentors appreciate that time is allotted within the residency for research, quality improvement and/or educational scholarship and are eager to help.  Trainees value the open access to mentors, role models, division heads and fellowship program directors.

Keeping things in perspective
While working hard to ensure that you develop the necessary knowledge and technical skills, we also work to make sure that our residents maintain their compassion and emotional health.  A one resident/one intern team design, common on most of our services, promotes the development of closer working relationships between seniors and interns.  Regular conferences addressing analyses of medical errors and reflections on the care of dying patients provide necessary opportunities for further development as professionals in an open, non-threatening environment.  Our residents are extremely supportive of one another and spend much time socializing together inside and outside of work.  Socially-minded senior residents organize tailgating parties, happy hours, pool parties and other fun activities.