Our Family Medicine Residency Program, established in 1971, is one of the oldest in the nation. It is the only physician training program in the hospital, allowing each resident to be “first in line” for every experience.
Beginning your first day you will be provided with a well-rounded curriculum with a blend of didactic sessions and hands-on educational experiences.
- Intern Boot Camp
- State-of-the-Art Simulation Lab Training
- Flexibility to concentrate on special areas of interest
- A focused office experience
- Osteopathic training in hospital and office
- Night Call/Float
- Practice Management
- Sports Medicine
- Community Medicine and Public Health
Additional Experiences
- International Health
- Women’s Health
- Community Outreach which includes homeless healthcare
Residents have the opportunity to participate in a variety of program sponsored and elective activities in these areas.
What sets apart our Osteopathic Residency?
Osteopathic residents receive training longitudinally in osteopathic principles and practices throughout all three years of residency. Teaching is provided in both the hospital and office settings on the residents own patients, as well as patients referred to the OMT clinic.
Osteopathic medicine has long been accepted at our institution and is highly regarded as a beneficial and integral part of patient care.
We provide complete training in osteopathic medicine, giving our graduates a deep understanding of how to:
- Efficiently perform OMT in both the office and the hospital
- Bill for OMT
- Incorporate the osteopathic principles and philosophy into all patient encounters
We achieve this training through:
- OMT Clinics where patients with somatic dysfunction in any body region are treated
- Workshops where faculty and residents (under faculty supervision) teach hands-on OMT skills to osteopaths and allopaths
- Mentoring where osteopathic residents help train the interested allopaths
Graduating from our program gives you lots of options!
WHS prepared me very well for the depth and breadth of Family Practice. I would definitely choose WHS for residency again.
The residency program provides the sports medicine services for Washington and Jefferson College and Washington High School. Pre-participation sports physicals and football game coverage are longitudinally done by all of our residents. We also are the team physicians for the Washington Wild Things, the local Frontier League Professional Baseball team. In our Sports Medicine track, the resident will have an opportunity to do an elective in sports medicine working directly with our Primary Care-Sports Medicine faculty, orthopedic surgeons and athletic trainers to provide services to professional, college, and high school athletes.
Washington Health System has sponsored a hospice program since 1997 and a consultative palliative medicine program since 2004.The medical director, Jeffrey F. Minteer, MD, is board certified in hospice/palliative medicine and has more than 30 years of palliative experience. The curriculum offers a required one block rotation in conjunction with the geriatrics rotation. In addition, there are block elective and longitudinal, two-year experiences available under the direction of Dr. Minteer. The longitudinal experience is constructed to suit the interests of the individual resident.
Required curriculum for women’s health includes 4 months of OB/GYN. For residents interested in additional training we have two Women’s health tracks that includes additional obstetrical and gynecology experience in the second and third year. Training occurs in a variety of settings.
- Our OB/GYN Clinic run by family medicine OB faculty, including a high-risk clinic supervised by local OB/GYN physicians
- Labor and delivery suite
Training includes OB care as well as experience in gynecological procedures such as colposcopy, IUD insertion, and endometrial biopsies.
Many residents are interested in rotations abroad. Washington Health System Family Medicine has been able to establish relationships with groups that organize trips to Fiji and the Dominican Republic.
At the beginning of the trip, participants are divided into 3-4 groups consisting of an attending, students, a pharmacist, and residents. Duties vary from morning to afternoon, and include: field trips to schools for WCCs, home visits, clinic time, pharmacy work, community projects. Saturday and Sundays are off, and often the group takes an end-of- experience trip to a local tourist destination.
Internet access is available.
Cell phone service is available (provider dependent).
Sleeping quarters are on primitive bunk beds with sleeping mats.
Cold showers and flushing toilets.
Rural Medicine Experience
Community Based Practice Experience
In addition to the Family Medicine Centers, the residency operates an additional office in Cecil, Pennsylvania. Located approximately 15 miles from Washington, this modern, spacious, well-equipped facility is an integral part of the educational program and provides the resident with office experience in a community setting.
Washington Health System has underwritten care at the Washington City Mission since 2006 and faculty and residents have volunteered there for years. Washington City Mission is the county’s largest homeless shelter. It houses up to 100 homeless residents nightly and feeds at least twice as many every day. In 2010 a more formal partnership was developed between the free clinic operated by the City Mission and Washington Health System Family Medicine. Twice a month, second or third year residents on their clinics or community medicine rotations staff a half day clinic for City Mission residents, uninsured community members and street homeless. This experience allows our residents to become familiar with the various mental health, rehabilitation, and social services to the indigent population of our county.