Mission

Cultivate Family Medicine Leaders providing trusted, evidence-based care for service members and families. 

Vision

World-class Family Medicine training! 

Aims

• Transform physicians into inspired learners and well-rounded leaders in Family Medicine. 
• Train physicians who excel in providing evidence-based, comprehensive care. 
• Prepare physicians to serve diverse populations across all settings. 
• Foster a culture of safety and wellness.  

Monday-Friday, 7:30 - 8 a.m.

Led by a resident or faculty. Focused on case presentation for developing clinical reasoning, differential diagnoses, work up and management. Each day has a unique focus with Women’s Health on Monday, Fractures on Tuesdays, Resident-led morning report on Wednesdays, and potpourri on Thursdays and Fridays.

Wednesdays, 12:15 - 4 p.m.

Every Wednesday, we have dedicated didactic time. This time is blocked and all clinical responsibilities are covered by faculty or R3 residents. Topics vary week-to-week and includes lectures from residents, faculty and/or specialists. The curriculum is on an 18-month rotation and covers core topics for Family Medicine. It also includes procedure simulations, journal club, and morbidity and mortality conferences. Every other week, our interns and medical students are taught separately with small group mystery case-based didactics.

Hospital Grand Rounds

Each month, the hospital hosts a lecture series taught by specialists throughout the medical group.

• Rotations may occur in any order
• There are 13 scheduled rotation blocks in each academic year which are 4 weeks in duration each

Medical Electives

• Cardiology
• Pulmonology
• Gastroenterology
• Ultrasound Sports Medicine
• Procedures Elective
• Obstetrics
• Dermatology
• Rheumatology
• Neurology
• Endocrinology
• Infectious Diseases
• Emergency Medicine
• Faculty Development

Pediatric Electives

• Nursery
• Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)

Surgical Electives

• General Surgery
• Vascular Surgery
• Urology
• Ophthalmology
• Otolaryngology
• Plastic Surgery

Other Electives

• Ultrasound / Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS)
• Radiology
• Research elective

Residents may elect to take other elective opportunities based upon individual interests.  Residents are encouraged to discuss options with their Program Director.

There is no longer a 24-hour call schedule at our program. Rather, residents work in shifts. Every resident will complete four weeks of night float every academic year. The R1/R2s are responsible for all inpatient admissions. The R3 is responsible for any ICU patients and/or patients on the labor deck.  

We have incorporated a dedicated rotation focusing on military unique curriculum during the R3 year called ARMO. We also offer individual lectures and learning events throughout the academic year that address military-focused topics. Throughout your entire residency, you will be expected to show, and will receive feedback on professionalism, military bearing, uniform standards, height/weight/physical fitness standards and other relevant topics. Residents are active duty officers during training and are required to complete all training requirements assigned to Airmen within the United States Air Force.  

• Basic Life Support certification
• Advanced Life Support or Advanced Cardiac Life Support certification
• Pediatric Advanced Life Support certification
• Advanced Trauma Life Support certification
• Fetal Heart Monitoring course
• Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics certification
• Neonatal Resuscitation certification
• STABLE course certification

We offer a robust simulation curriculum to our residents. 

• Every week there is a faculty-led inpatient adult simulation for the inpatient residents. 
• On Monday mornings our pediatricians or our Family Medicine faculty lead a neonatal resuscitation simulation.
• Thursdays offer a hospital-wide OB focused simulation.
• Our intensivists help each advanced procedures such as arterial line placement, central line insertions, intubations, and more!

Within the residency, talks/discussions are provided longitudinally during academics, including sessions on operational experience and officership topics. Professionalism and leadership are modeled by senior residents and staff throughout all of residency, and informally discussed as opportunities arise. Residents have numerous informal and formal leadership opportunities within the residency and institution including Chief Resident, research lead, as well as various committees such as the wellness/student committee and academic committee.

There are many opportunities to participate in research at our program. We generally send half of the residents to our National conference (USAFP) or another military-related conference each year. Several of our faculty are involved in primary research and/or author review articles, and many others mentor Family Physicians Inquiries Network projects. Residents are commonly invited to participate and can find many unique lines of research covering a wide variety of topics. Prior to graduation, residents are required to complete two small scholarly projects, but many residents choose to take a research elective and prepare a case report for presentation/publication or take a leading or supporting role on other scholarly projects.

Every resident is expected to participate in a formal quality improvement project during the course of their residency.

Third year residents are invited to attend faculty development courses offered by local faculty and Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences faculty members during an academic year.

• UC Davis (Pediatrics Inpatient, Adult and Pediatric ED)
• Contra Costa Regional Medical Center (Newborn nursery)
• Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (OB during R1 and R2)

Our program has third-year clerkship rotations for students from USUHS and we are willing to coordinate with HPSP participants should they want to complete their clerkship at our site. In addition to this we offer four-week elective and audition rotations in both Family Medicine and Sports Medicine for USUHS and HPSP students. Students spend the vast majority of their rotation working closely with staff and resident family physicians in an outpatient setting seeing patients of all ages. Students are also exposed to several outpatient procedures including vasectomies, osteopathic manipulation, IUDs, Nexplanon’s, joint injections, Botox, and minor skin procedures. Experience managing inpatients, obstetrical patients, inpatient pediatric patients, and newborns is gained by working under the supervision of a resident and attending physician on the family medicine inpatient team. Students receive didactic training through multiple modalities: daily morning report, weekly half day Wednesday workshops, simulation activities, and Thursday morning lectures by various residents and staff. 4th year students are generally required to present a morning report while rotating with us. The Family Medicine rotation is three weeks in the outpatient setting and one week in the inpatient setting unless completing a sub-I which requires two weeks be inpatient.

Those completing a Sports Medicine elective will work outpatient for 4 weeks with our faculty and residents. In addition to the Family Medicine didactics, they will participate in didactics with our Sports Medicine faculty and fellows.

Unique opportunities at David Grant include:

• Dedicated student didactics every other week
• Sports medicine didactics with faculty and fellows
• Specialized medical student templates that provide extra time for teaching
• Social outings with staff and residents
• Adolescent medicine clinic with our program director

Our interviews take place on Wednesday mornings and begin at 7:30 a.m. with morning report. Time is reserved from 8 - 9 a.m. to meet with our chief residents. The rest of the morning is dedicated to interviewing with a faculty panel (3-5 faculty) for ~30 mins and a separate program director interview (~30 mins). All interviewees will be required to provide a copy of their CV and personal statement prior to the interview day. Interviewees are all asked the same questions to try and maintain consistency and enable access to the same discussion topics; the goal of the interviews is for the program to learn more about applicants and applicants to learn more about the program, so time for questions is preserved as part of the interview. Final applicant packet scoring is conducted with significant input from the resident body and core faculty.

• For those on a rotation: your interviews will usually be scheduled near the end of your rotation and will involve the program director and several core faculty members.
• For those not able to rotate with the program: we support both virtual and single day in-person interviews so do not hesitate to reach out to schedule.

Family Medicine Residents take the American Board of Family Medicine or the American Osteopathic Board of Family Physicians board exam. This exam is offered twice per year, and family medicine residents usually take it during April of their R3 year. To be eligible to take specialty board exams, graduates must complete all pre-requisites required by the ABFM and be on track for graduation within three months of the usual 30 June date for completing residency. For those off-cycle or extended in residency beyond three months, there is an exam period in October.

• ABFM information about the certification process and board eligibility 
• ABFM Resident Resources 
• AOBFP information

Residents have numerous opportunities to teach peers/colleagues and junior learners throughout residency. This includes some resident-run teaching on the inpatient care team and in clinic. The program hosts 3rd and 4th year medical students who are often paired with senior residents to evaluate patients. Residents can also qualify to become instructors for resuscitation certification courses (BLS, ALS, PALS, NRP, STABLE).

Residents may apply during their second year to the USUHS Faculty Development elective that is completed during their third year. During the elective, these residents work on curriculum development, teaching MS1-2 medical students, precepting residents and more. We offer numerous faculty development courses throughout the year and senior residents are welcome to attend. We can also craft a local faculty development elective for interested residents.

Currently faculty within the residency have the following subspecialty training:

• Sports Medicine
• Point-of-Care-Ultrasound
• Obstetrics
• Faculty Development
• Adolescent Medicine

Adjunct faculty have additional geriatric fellowship training. We work directly with pharmacists both in outpatient and inpatient settings.

Our core faculty includes a Behavioral Medicine specialist.

Our program values mentorship as this is critical for one’s professional development and career goals. Residents are assigned an advisor who helps assist them throughout residency. Each resident will likely have multiple additional mentors. Faculty work hard to link residents with staff physicians both in family medicine and in other specialties who may have similarities with them whether it is their medical career aspirations, military career goals, or gender/ethnic/religious and other background considerations. Having good mentors has helped many residents match directly into desired fellowship programs, military assignments, and opportunities to publish and present at conferences, and to enhance personal resiliency and wellness.

We work hard at David Grant to build a culture in which we care about each other, support each other, and respond to the education and wellness needs of each other. We commit to being fair, transparent, and truthful to maintain psychological safety in the program. We want to help residents stay connected to the sense of purpose and values that are inherent in caring for patients and serving in the military. We attempt to space out rotations that are particularly rigorous or non-leave eligible; we will help you develop efficiency skills so that you can maintain boundaries between work and non-work life. Being able to improve the environment around you is a key part of wellness. The faculty and leadership of the residency and department maintain open-door policies and are highly receptive to feedback on the culture and processes of the residency. The PD/APDs continually seek feedback via the chief residents, internal surveys, and external surveys. We strongly believe that together we can build and maintain the culture we want.

Wellness Committee

This committee is made up of several residents and faculty that meet quarterly throughout the year to help ensure our curriculum, policies, and procedures align to support resident, fellow, and faculty wellness. Focus areas include medical student social events, retreats, holiday/graduation/orientation events, fatigue/work hours, family wellness, and any other situations or circumstances that may significantly affect wellness.

Resident-to-Resident

All residents meet once a month to explore challenges, uncertainties, and difficulties that arise in patient care. These sessions are led by the Chief Residents. We also encourage residents and advisors to discuss wellness challenges and strategies for maintaining wellness as part of their monthly advisor-advisee meetings.

Retreats

Several retreats are conducted to help cultivate a sense of belonging among the residency, promote wellness, have fun, and provide a venue to discussing our culture.

• June: all resident retreat
• August: all faculty retreat
• Fall: R1 retreat
• Spring: R2 retreat
• Winter: R3 retreat