Family Medicine Residency longitudinal curriculum

Future Family Physician (FFP) Series

The Future Family Physicians (FFP) series is designed to train residents to be efficient and successful family medicine outpatient specialists. This series will train resident physicians to be proficient in the use of electronic medical records, manage a panel of patients, and be responsible for quality outcome metrics as well as patient satisfaction. In addition, this series will allow resident physicians to manage personal and professional stress and well-being. The FFP series is a longitudinal curriculum with 3 dedicated rotations, one each year of residency:

1. FFP1: Integrative Wellness
   • Comprehensive EPIC superuser training
   • Stress and Burnout strategies/mitigation
   • Introduction to Quality improvement
   • Focus on learning clinic workflow
   • Basic integrative wellness concepts for personal and professional well-being
   • Begin to work on billing and coding
2. FFP2:  Management of Health Systems 
   • Continued focus on clinic efficiency
   • Increased focus on quality improvement metrics and outcomes
   • Introduction of Patient Satisfaction data
   • Begin/continue work on quality improvement project
   • Increased focus on the role of a clinician within a healthcare system
   • Increased focus on billing and coding
   • Skills and strategies for future job
     • Practice models
     • Job interviewing
     • Malpractice insurance
3. FFP3:  Introduction to Private Practice
   • Identify any areas of growth needed for fulltime practice
   • Opportunities to mentor/work with PGY-1 and PGY-2 residents with staffing/video precepting
   • Focus on patient volume and EPIC/in-basket efficiency
   • Billing and coding/revenue generation
   • Experience clinic scheduling representative of practicing clinicians
   • Mastery of quality improvement and patient satisfaction

Community Health, Advocacy and Managing Populations (CHAMP)

Community Health, Advocacy and Managing Populations (CHAMP) is designed to develop and integrate skills and tools in community health, advocacy and population management into clinical practice. It is composed of four parts:

• CHAMP orientation – A key element of residents' orientation block, this orientation focuses on the principles of community health, health equity and advocacy to identify health strengths and challenges in our Milwaukee community.
• CHAMP 1 – This first-year rotation offers each resident a firsthand experience to collaborate with our community partners who provide patient-centered services in Milwaukee. Residents also learn to employ narrative for advocacy and complete a community-based advocacy project.
• CHAMP 2 – This second-year rotation develops residents' skills integrating advocacy and managing populations into their careers as primary care physicians. Residents lead a clinic-based advocacy project.
• Lead for Health – A longitudinal elective, Lead for Health spans the second and third years of residency and is designed for residents interested in completing a community medicine track.

Lead for Health

The elective component of the CHAMP curriculum, Lead for Health is dedicated to increased community health, advocacy training and community engagement. The program trains residents to be physician leaders not just in their clinics, but also in the community at large, translating population and community needs into community and clinical practice change.

Residents select, design and implement community engagement projects throughout their second and third years of residency. Many Lead for Health projects incorporate TRIUMPH (Training in Urban Medicine and Public Health) students from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and/or are run by faculty and resident graduates or leaders of the TRIUMPH program.

Examples of past Lead for Health projects include:

• Community asset mapping
• Group diabetes visits
• Obesity high five!
• Sustaining family physicians in urban underserved settings
• Reach out and read Milwaukee!

Integrative medicine

Integrative medicine is the thoughtful, evidence-based combination of conventional medicine and holistic medicine to help people on their journey to health and wellness.

The Aurora Family Medicine Residency offers two distinct integrative medicine learning opportunities:

• Integrative medicine in residency track – This is a 2-year track in which residents complete IMR (Integrative Medicine in Residency) 200-hour online curriculum through the University of Arizona, in addition to regular half days at the Aurora Wiselives Center for Wellbeing. Integrative medicine in residency is designed to incorporate integrative approaches in primary care practice and to serve as a launching point for any residency wishing to complete an integrative medicine fellowship or pursue an integrative practice.
• The integrative medicine elective – In this one-month optional rotation, residents work more closely with integrative medicine providers, including fellowship-trained physicians and nurse practitioners. Residents can spend time shadowing chiropractic, massage therapy, Reiki, acupuncture, Ayurveda, nutrition/health coaching and other integrative specialty services.

Aurora Health Care's department of integrative medicine also offers several resources for learning, patient care and self-care.

Osteopathic training

The Aurora Family Medicine Residency has been training osteopathic family physicians for more than two decades. It was one of first (and today, one of the largest) osteopathic recognized ACGME Family Medicine Residency programs in the United States.

Residents in the Osteopathic Recognition track receive extensive training through a comprehensive family medicine curriculum that focuses on osteopathic principles and practice. Residents learn through quarterly conferences and ongoing didactics. They also participate in weekly, hands-on Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment specialty clinics, working one-on-one with osteopathic faculty in real-life patient encounters as well as have opportunities to provide OMT in the inpatient adult, OB and newborn services.

To participate in the Osteopathic Recognition track, residents must:

• Choose the Osteopathic Recognition track upon matching into the residency
• Successfully complete 50 documented osteopathic manipulative treatment procedures upon graduation
• Attend a minimum of three osteopathic manipulative treatment conferences per academic year
• Successfully perform an osteopathic principles and practice-focused scholarly activity, or present at one statewide, regional or national conference
• Successfully complete an osteopathic principles and practice-related yearly written exam
• Have a bi-annual review of performance with osteopathic faculty
• Complete a minimum of two supervised osteopathic treatment sessions per year, evaluated by osteopathic faculty
• Sit for the American Board of Osteopathic Family Practice Board Certification

View the full Family Medicine Residency curriculum.

Download longitudinal curriculums [PDF]

Apply to the residency

Learn how to apply to the Aurora Family Medicine Residency program. Get information about candidate requirements and interview selection criteria.

Apply to Family Medicine Residency program