Does your program work with socioeconomically underserved populations?
Most of our patients are underserved and “underinsured.” The majority of the patients we see in the Family Health Center are covered by Medi-Cal, California’s implementation of the Medicaid program that covers low income patients. In the hospital, we take care of all comers. Our inpatient patient population is a mix of uninsured, underinsured, and well-insured patients.
What is a clinic session in the Family Health Center like?
Clinic sessions are a mix of acute care, preventive health, and chronic disease management. First year residents start off seeing 3-4 patients per half day in clinic and ramp up to six patients per half day as they become more comfortable. By the third year, residents are seeing 8-12 patients per half day. Faculty physicians are always available in the clinic for consultation, to help with patient care, and for teaching.
Does the residency clinic use an electronic medical record (EMR)?
The O’Connor Family Health Center has used an EMR since 2007 when we went live with Misys EMR. All of the clinical documentation, messaging, and prescribing is done through the EMR.
What is the retention rate of your residents?
The retention rate of our residents is nearly perfect. In the past decade there have been a handful of residents who have interrupted their training to pursue other career paths or to train elsewhere but almost universally our residents complete their training with the program.
What do most of your graduates do?
Most of the residency graduates work as employed physicians within multi-specialty groups in the Bay Area. About one per year pursue fellowship training. Some have joined our faculty or have taken faculty positions with other residency programs. The majority of our graduates work in outpatient settings with some continuing hospital work and prenatal care.
How stable is the residency program? Turnover rate of the faculty?
The program is very stable. In 2004, when San Jose Medical Center, our sponsoring institution at the time, announced its impending closure the program moved almost seamlessly with its residents and faculty to our new home at O’Connor Hospital. The residents were able to continue their training without interruption. The faculty group is very stable as well. Dr. Norman has served as the program director since 1986. Most of the faculty have been with the program for more than 10 years. The faculty continues to grow with three new faculty family physicians added since 2004.
How well has your program done in the match?
The San Jose – O’Connor Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program has consistently filled all of its match positions. We have been fortunate to receive a high-caliber group of applicants year after year which has allowed us to consistently fill our program with great future family doctors.
What makes this program different from other Family Medicine residency programs?
Many of the positive features of our program combine to make it a top notch place to train. O’Connor Hospital, a community-based, family medicine friendly hospital without other residency programs, is an ideal place to train in family medicine. Our success in attracting talented residents and the strength of our faculty mean that you will be surrounded by smart, engaging colleagues who will support you while pushing you to achieve your fullest potential. Are the residents pleased with their residency training at O’Connor Hospital? We survey residency program alumni to get feedback on how we can continue to improve the residency training to meet evolving real world practice needs. Results from our latest survey found that residency graduates report feeling well prepared to practice family medicine in the community.
How well do residents do on board certification exams?
Our residency graduates have a 100% pass rate on the board certification examinations.
What sorts of perks are offered
?
There is an educational fund of $500 in the 1st and 3rd years and $1000 in the 2nd year which most residents use to pay for USMLE Step 3, licensing and DEA fees. Membership in the AAFP is paid for for all residents.
Do I get free food and free parking?
You bet. The O’Connor Hospital cafeteria offers lots of tasty options including grill specials (gyros and paninis were a recent feature). It’s always free of charge for the residents. Parking is also free.
Are there any other residency programs at O’Connor Hospital?
There are no other residency programs at O’Connor Hospital – it’s “unopposed.” Being an “unopposed “ program means our residents get exposure to the full scope of interesting clinical cases and procedures. There is no competition with other programs for certain patients or procedures. Similarly, at O’Connor Hospital you won’t be the low man on the totem pole while rotating onto another specialty’s team.We do two rotations at outside hospitals: One month at Kaiser, a tertiary care center for pediatrics, and two months at Valley Medical center, which is a county hospital with a high volume of obstectrics. We do rotate with other residents from Stanford, UCSF, and SCVMC during these 3 months.
Why is O’Connor Hospital a good hospital for residency training?
O’Connor Hospital is a good place to train family doctors for several reasons. As a community-based hospital, our patient population reflects the diseases and problems seen by practicing family doctors. Esoterica requiring sub-sub-specialists is the exception here rather than the rule. Our residents become expert in the management of common medical conditions they will be seeing in their future practices. Because it is an “unopposed” program, family residents are never forced to compete for interesting patients or procedures. O’Connor Hospital has only been a teaching hospital since 2005. As a result, we find that many of O’Connor Hospital’s specialists are eager to work with the residents and enjoy teaching. 
How well are family physicians and residents treated at O’Connor Hospital?
Family physicians have a strong presence in O’Connor Hospital. Family medicine staff physicians and residents are treated as respected colleagues.
Will I have to do any scut work? What ancillary services are available at O’Connor Hospital?
O’Connor Hospital is a no scut zone. Many of our residents feel like they’ve had plenty of “opportunities” in medical school to draw blood, get ABG’s, place NG tubes, and run samples down to the lab. If you have interest in doing more of these procedures, we can accommodate this need. But, at O’Connor Hospital, routine tasks like these are done by nursing staff and ancillary personnel.
Curriculum
What sort of elective opportunities will I have?
The elective options are wide open. Residents have two months of electives, one of which can be anywhere in the world.
Recent elective choices included working with a local midwife/obestrician group, Dermatology in Hawaii, medical volunteer work in Vietnam, Office-based procedures with our attendings, and Sports Medicine Ultrasound in Colorado. In addition to the elective months, residents can choose a “selective” in the second year which allows for additional time rotating in subject matter that the resident chooses (such as Cardiology, Pediatrics, Dermatology etc). Finally, our faculty are involved in a wide variety of clinical activities such as teaching, volunteering in local free clinics and staffing sports events and frequently invite residents to join them.
Are there opportunities for international health rotations?
Residents have the opportunity to do a one month away elective which can be done internationally. Our program has an association with a free clinic based in Roatan, Honduras (coincidentally also a gorgeous beach, snorkeling, diving destination) that several of our residents and faculty have rotated through. Other overseas elective opportunities are also available and residents are free to set up their own rotation for their away elective month.
Will I have the opportunity to do scholarly activity like research or writing journal articles?
Our program does not have a research or publication requirement but there are several opportunities for scholarly activities for those who are interested. All residents develop projects as part of their Family and Community Medicine month. These have the potential to be presented as poster presentations at national conferences. Faculty have co-presented with residents at national family medicine conferences and have collaborated with residents on articles for the family medicine journals and textbooks.
How much OB do you do?
Our residents far exceed the number of deliveries required for family medicine residency graduates. The average number of deliveries completed by our last two graduating classes was 106. Residents also get experience with the full spectrum of labor management, vacuum assisted deliveries, and assisting with Cesarean sections. Residents do two high volume months of obstetrics training at Valley Medical Center, the local county hospital. Three of our core family medicine faculty have active maternity care practices. Two of our family medicine faculty perform C-sections as primary surgeon.
Will I get experience conducting group patient visits?
The Family Health Center, our residency clinic, hosts periodic group visits for diabetes and for obesity/lifestyle management. We are planning to introduce group prenatal visits modeled on the Centering Pregnancy approach in the coming months. Residents have the opportunity to co-lead these group visits.
Are any of the required rotations at hospitals other than O’Connor Hospital?
Fortunately, the majority of the residency training is based at our home institution. This allows our residents to work in a familiar environment and to participate in regularly scheduled didactic sessions. There are a handful of rotations that are based outside of O’Connor Hospital in order to supplement the training available at our host institution. First year residents do two months away: a month of intense labor and delivery at Valley Medical Center, the local county hospital, and one month of inpatient pediatrics at Kaiser Santa Clara. Second year residents spend one month away doing outpatient gynecology and building their obstetrics experience by taking L&D call at Valley Medical Center.
Which procedures will I be trained to perform at this residency?
Residents gain competence in a broad range of clinical procedures. The following is a sampling of the procedures residents learn during their training, although this is not an all-inclusive list. In the inpatient arena, residents learn critical care procedures like putting in central lines, thoracentesis, paracentesis, intubation, and lumbar puncture. Outpatient procedures include the full spectrum of skin and soft tissue surgery, musculoskeletal procedures including joint and soft tissue injections, splinting, and casting. In the arena of women’s health, residents learn to manage laboring patients including the procedures required for this like fetal monitoring, intrauterine pressure catheter (IUPC) placement, amnioinfusion, ultrasound, manual extraction of placenta, episiotomy and perineal repair. Outpatient women’s health procedures include endometrial biopsy, colposcopy, cryosurgery of the cervix, and several others.
How much vacation time will I get?
The current schedule gives 3 one-week vacations for R1s and 4 one-week vacations for R2s and R3s.
Learning Environment
What is the relationship like between the residents and the faculty?
There’s a wonderful collegial relationship between the residents and the faculty. The faculty treat the residents like future family physician colleagues. The faculty are approachable and easy to talk to. They encourage and support residents who wish to pursue individual areas of interest.
How often will I be on call at this residency program?
This varies by class year and will probably change slightly to accommodate the new ACGME requirements for the 2011 year. Currently, all residents do two 2-week blocks of nighfloat which covers the hospital from 9:30PM-9AM on Mondays through Thursdays. Intern call is split evenly between the 8 interns and averages out to a little over 1 short call (weekdays & sundays) per week with 1-2 weekend call nights per month throughout the year (to accommodate call free months and vacations we don’t follow a strict call routine). On away rotations at Kiaser and VMC call is approximately Q4. Senior call is split evenly between all 16 R2s and R3s
What’s the balance between work and learning?
The residency does a good job of balancing the work and educational needs of the residents. High quality patient care is our number one priority. This often requires a lot of hard work. All hospital scut work has been eliminated allowing residents to make full use of their clinical time.
Are residents involved in making changes to the residency program?
Residents have a lot of opportunity to help contribute to the residency program. One example is the Family and Community Medicine month where residents work on a project that often focuses on an area for quality improvement in the Family Health Center or our hospital service. Residents are also involved in several committees and do periodic curriculum review and faculty evaluation. Feedback from the residents and our graduates is the cornerstone for continuing to improve and evolve the residency over time.
Does your program adhere to residency work hour limits?
Our residency program strictly adheres to ACGME residency work hour limits both because it’s required and because we believe it’s best for the health of our residents and our residents’ patients. On busier rotations, residents are released from post-call responsibilities that would keep them past their designated work hour limits. Because of our night float system, many of our rotations have little or no call responsibility. This allows the residents to be well rested.
How much didactic time is there? Are residents protected from other obligations during scheduled lectures and teaching sessions?
Residents attend noon conference every day over the noon hour. Didactic and interactive sessions are taught by our family medicine faculty and by visiting subspecialists. Journal clubs and morbidity and mortality (M&M) conferences occur monthly. Residents are not scheduled for work responsibilities during these educational sessions and are expected to attend unless they are attending to an urgent patient care need such as a code or delivery. Residents are relieved from work responsibilities for a series of small group workshops covering various topics.
Will I have autonomy in the care of my patients? Will they be my patients or my attending’s patients?
As the resident taking care of your patients in the Family Health Center and the hospital, you will be their doctor. The attending family medicine faculty serve as your consultants and advisors as you care for your patients. A minority of our hospitalized patients see one of our faculty physicians as their primary doctor. In these cases, the resident in charge of their inpatient care coordinates the patient’s care with the attending physician. We are the hospitalist service for O’Connor Hospital admitting any “undoctored” patients, or patients whose doctors do not have privileges at O’Connor. We do not admit patients and serve as a labor source for doctors who do have privileges at O’Connor.
Application
Do you offer clerkships, subinternships, or observerships at your program?
We offer inpatient and outpatient clerkships and subinternships with the residency program. Our most popular medical student rotation is a one month block that is split between the inpatient and outpatient settings: two weeks working in the Family Health Center and two weeks on the inpatient family medicine hospital service. These fill up quickly so if you are interested, contact Diane Jarosz to set it up. We do not currently offer observership positions. We are also happy to arrange “second look” opportunities for serious applicants.
Do I need to do a clerkship or subinternship at your program to have a good chance of matching?
Doing a rotation with us is a great way for you to get to know our program and for us to get to know you. The more information we all have, the better we’ll be able to determine if we are a good fit. That said, a rotation with us is neither expected nor required. We prefer to see applicants who have used their third and fourth year elective time to deepen their exposure to various areas of medicine rather than doing a string of family medicine “audition” rotations.
Does your program accept applications from international medical graduates?
We accept applications from international medical graduates through ERAS. Demonstration of supervised clinical practice in the United States is required for applicants being considered.
What’s life like in San Jose?
San Jose and its surrounding areas are great places to live. It’s a low density urban environment. You can find what you are looking for. There are old neighborhoods with quiet, tree-lined streets that are great for raising a family. There are apartments in downtown San Jose within walking distance to nightlife, the Sharks stadium (ice hockey), and great restaurants. If you like dining out, you’ll never get tired of your choices. In addition to standard fare, San Jose has great Vietnamese and Ethiopian food. People love the year-round excellent weather in San Jose and plethora of outdoor activities available.
Are most of the residents married or single? Do the residents socialize as a group?
Just over 50% of our current residents are married, and one or two residents in each class have children. Both married and single residents participate in post-work social events such as dinners out, barbeques, movie nights, and hikes. These are organized monthly by a resident who volunteers to be the Social Chair, and informally by everyone. Many of our residents form strong friendships that last long after residency ends.
Would this be a good place for me and my family? Is it a good place to raise young children?
Since San Jose is situated in the heart of Silicon Valley, job opportunities for your spouse abound. The headquarters for eBay, Google, PayPal, Yahoo!, Apple, and Cisco are within 20 minutes of the hospital. San Jose is also a great place to raise a family. San Jose is ranked as the #1 safest city with a population over 500,000. Happy Hollow Park and Zoo (www.hhpz.org) caters to young children and has just completed major renovations. The Children’s Discovery Museum (www.cdm.org) is a fun-filled learning environment. Older children will love the Tech Museum (www.thetech.org).
What fun things are there to do in and around San Jose?
San Jose’s beautiful weather makes outdoor activities such as hiking and bicycling available year round. San Jose is also surrounded by great places to visit: San Francisco, Napa Valley, and Monterey/Carmel are all within easy access for a day trip. A few hours’ drive gets you to skiing around Lake Tahoe or hiking in Yosemite National Park.