Information for Applicants

Program Structure

At UT Southwestern, we support the concept of the intern as the patient’s doctor. This is accomplished in a supportive environment that entails strong, interactive teamwork and includes more experienced trainees (junior and senior residents), attending physicians and consultants, outstanding nurses, and other medical personnel as appropriate to effect the optimal care of the patient. Interns function in this primary role on the wards and in the ICUs.

Interns help develop the plan of care, write orders and--under appropriate supervision--perform the majority of invasive procedures. Residents in UT Southwestern’s Internal Medicine training program rapidly become adept at a wide variety of procedures, including (but not limited to) central line placement, intubation, thoracentesis, paracentesis, arterial blood gases, minor biopsies, and lumbar puncture. By the end of the first year, residents are fully confident and competent to take on the challenges of leading a team and caring for even the most critically ill patients.

Educational Conferences: UTSW’s program takes pride in its rich tradition of teaching, whether from the bedside to the classroom or from the medical student to the senior faculty. Here, the focus on scientific principles and the pathophysiology of disease leads to a future of excellence as a clinician, physician-scientist, or both. Students new to the program will locate weekly lecture schedules on the UT Southwestern intranet.

Ambulatory Care Morning Report: A weekly case-based conference with an online curriculum covering important ambulatory topics is led by general medicine faculty.

Clinicopathologic Conference: A bimonthly case-based conference is led by faculty experts from Internal Medicine, Pathology, and Radiology.

Intern Chart Conference: Exclusive to interns, this weekly conference is led at UT Southwestern by Dr. Daniel Foster, a former chairman, at UT Southwestern University Hospital-St. Paul by Dr. Jonathan Weissler, and at Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center by Dr. Daniel Goodenberger. These conferences focus on the art of differential diagnosis. Resident Chart Conference with Dr. Weissler is held once a week at University Hospital-St. Paul.

Internal Medicine Grand Rounds: A weekly lecture series features experts both internal to and invited to UT Southwestern, who discuss a broad range of topics.

Journal Club: A weekly in-depth analysis and critical appraisal of important articles in various fields features teaching from experts in clinical research and evidence-based medicine.

Medicine Core Lecture Series: A weekly conference includes topics from all disciplines of internal medicine and other subspecialties.

Morning Report: Exclusive to second- and third-year students, this daily conference is led by our current chairman, Dr. David Johnson, and other rotating senior attendings. Cases admitted the night prior are discussed with a focus on disease pathophysiology and patient management.

Patient Safety Conference: A constructive multidisciplinary review of cases with adverse outcomes, with the goal of clinical practice improvement.

Potpourri: Unique to UT Southwestern and a house staff favorite, this weekly conference comprises residents presenting recent interesting cases. Each patient is presented as an unknown to audience members; the faculty, students, and interns help make the diagnosis.

Resident Update Conference: Each second year resident presents a recent literature review on a clinical topic of interest, usually arising from a personal patient interaction.

Curriculum by Year

Program Year 1

Program Curriculum Year 1

Program Year 2

Program Curriculum Year 2

Program Year 3

Program Curriculum Year 3

After the First Year

The remaining two years allow consolidation of skills introduced during the first year’s internship, the opportunity for more extensive exposure to selected subspecialties, and more time to pursue extracurricular activities. The residency experience itself can be loosely grouped into four types: wards, ICUs, clinics, and consults.

The resident is the team leader on the wards, responsible not only for advising interns and working with the team to generate plans for the care of each patient, but also for educating the interns and students and working with consultants. Ward months are the heart and soul of an internal medicine training program, and our residents have a great deal of autonomy. However, autonomy does not mean “abandonment.” Our faculty take great pride in being always available to assist and instruct when difficult cases are encountered, no matter the time of day or night.

Nonetheless, the level of responsibility and patient ownership that comes from autonomy, coupled with the complexity and diversity of the patients at our hospitals and excellent faculty teaching, guarantees that every graduate will fully grasp the skills required to be an excellent physician, regardless of his or her chosen career path, be it as academic, primary care provider, or subspecialist.

Discover the “PSTP”

Also available to UT Southwestern fellows is the Physician Scientist Training Program (PSTP) under the auspices of our internationally-renowned faculty. This program provides highly individualized scientific mentorship in preparation for a career in biomedical research.

Intensive Care Units: The ICUs at UT Southwestern provide care for some of the sickest patients in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Residents in the ICUs work closely with the fellows from our nationally renowned training programs in Cardiology and Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine. In addition to teaching rounds, there are daily didactic teaching conferences, presented by outstanding clinical faculty in areas that include pulmonary hypertension, transplant medicine, and more. Residents in the ICU are responsible for running all codes and helping ward teams manage seriously ill patients on the wards. These experiences are so positive that many residents ultimately choose to pursue a fellowship in Cardiology or Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine.

Outpatient Clinic: Residents are assigned to an outpatient clinic either at the VA Medical Center or Parkland Memorial Hospital, and have clinic at least once a week while on wards or a consult service for all three years of training. The structure is arranged to optimize continuity of care and make sure that each resident is fully trained in primary care internal medicine.

Consult Rotations: In the last two years of residency, about half the time is spent on subspecialty and consult rotations. The resident handles most of the consultations on each service and staffs these with the attending physician for that subspecialty. Nights and weekends are generally free time for the resident. In addition to these duties in an inpatient setting, emphasis is placed on developing the skills needed to deliver expert care in an outpatient ambulatory setting.

The Internal Medicine residency program takes pride in its rich tradition of teaching, from the classroom to the bedside, and from the medical student to the senior faculty. At UT Southwestern the focus on scientific principles and the pathophysiology of disease leads to a future of excellence as a clinician, physician-scientist, or both.

Resident Salaries and Benefits

House Staff Stipends

Effective 7-1-11

Benefits Include:

• Medical insurance
• Pharmacy insurance
• Vision insurance
• Dental insurance
• Accident insurance
• Disability insurance
• Life insurance
• Worker's Compensation
• Retirement income plan with contribution matching
• Parking
• Cellular phone discounts
• Lab coat laundry services
• Discounted tickets to local sporting and entertainment events
• In-house moonlighting opportunities available
• Computer lounge, recently updated with a dozen new PC’s, color laser printer, fax machine, unlimited copying, and direct access to UT Southwestern Library’s journal collection
• Resident’s lounge – An oasis in the middle of it all; stocked with coffee, a refrigerator, a microwave, sofas and cable television
• Meal cards for overnight call responsibilities
• Travel reimbursement for invited presentations at national meetings
• VPN accounts for home access to our hospital’s medical records, UpToDate online and library resources
• Embroidered lab coats (one per year)
• Lunch with daily noon conferences
• Updated MKSAP and Med Study review books for board preparation available for all in the lounge
• UT System site license for Microsoft software

Benefits Information from Parkland Health and Hospital System

• Benefits Overview
• Sample Remunerative Appointment Agreement
• Sample Non-Remunerative Appointment Agreement

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. To the extent provided by applicable law, no person shall be excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any program or activity sponsored or conducted by The University of Texas System or any of its component institutions on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, or handicap.