Residents spend the majority of their inpatient time on our hospitalist-led inpatient general medicine teams. These rotations form the foundation of the residents’ clinical education in internal medicine. All housestaff teams are led by faculty hospitalists who rotate in two-week intervals to optimize continuity with team members. These faculty hospitalists are the attending of record for all patients admitted to housestaff teams. Faculty are specifically selected to work with residents based on their dedication to and interest in medical education. Many faculty have additional areas of expertise that enrich the educational experience, including point-of-care ultrasound, quality improvement and high-value care, and evidence-based medicine.
Most general medicine teams encompass two interns, one PGY-2, and one PGY-3 resident. Each intern is paired with a resident to form a hemi-team that cares for up to eight patients from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds with a wide range of pathologies and illness severities, from acute floor to stepdown level of care. Residents gain exposure to new and undiagnosed conditions that require complex diagnostic evaluations as well as exacerbations of chronic diseases that may require advanced therapies. As a tertiary referral center, NYP/WCM accepts transfer patients from tri-state area hospitals for patients requiring advanced subspecialty care, such as transplant, oncology, and rheumatology.
On most teams, each resident takes long call every fourth day and admits new patients to the team. On call days, each intern is paired with a resident from a sister team who provides support as needed. The intern or resident on call hands off all patients to night float at 7pm.
The 20-bed Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) provides residents the opportunity to care for critically ill patients with a wide range of life-threatening conditions. The two-week MICU rotation offers a supportive learning environment with a multidisciplinary team encompassing ICU attendings (who are always in-house), pulmonary/critical care fellows, critical care nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, nutritionists, occupational and physical therapists, and social workers. Additional educational highlights include procedural training and point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS). PGY-2 and PGY-3 residents also rotate as the critical care triage resident, who works with the ICU outreach attending to respond to resuscitations and cardiac arrests, determine the appropriate level of care for patients being admitted to medicine services, and admit patients to the MICU.
A night float system provides coverage for all inpatient medicine services. Residents rotate overnight on general medicine, geriatrics, MICU, and cardiology services, including cardiac stepdown and cardiac intensive care unit (CCU). NYP/WCM residents do not take 24-hour calls.
On the general medicine and cardiac stepdown services, one intern and one resident are paired to care for up to 32 patients and admit new patients to the inpatient teams. On geriatrics night float, residents cross-cover and admit to the geriatrics inpatient service. Night float residents present overnight admissions to the day team on rounds starting at 8am.
In the MICU and CCU, interns and residents are responsible for a 20-bed critical care unit, supported by a fantastic team of physician assistants, fellows, and an overnight in-house critical care attending.
Residents are immersed in the Division of Cardiology throughout their three years of training to care for patients with advanced cardiac diseases in the inpatient cardiac stepdown service and the cardiac intensive care unit (CCU). As a tertiary care and heart transplant center, NYP/WCM cardiology faculty offer expertise in interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, advanced heart failure and pulmonary hypertension, valvular disease, advanced cardiac imaging, cardio-oncology, and adult congenital heart disease.
All interns rotate through a four-week cardiology experience on our inpatient cardiac stepdown service, which includes two weeks of daytime service, one week of night coverage, and one week of inpatient general cardiology consults. Senior residents also rotate through the cardiac stepdown service, which is staffed by two interns and two residents with supervision from a cardiology attending and a cardiology fellow.
The 20-bed Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CCU) is staffed by two PGY-2 and two PGY-3 residents, physician assistants, cardiology fellows, and two attending cardiologists (a general cardiac intensivist and an advanced heart failure specialist). Residents will care for patients with complex cardiac diseases including acute coronary syndromes, arrhythmias, those requiring advanced interventional procedures, and those with cardiogenic shock requiring mechanical circulatory support.
Residents have the unique opportunity to rotate through two world-class cancer centers at NYP/WCM and MSKCC. At Weill Cornell, residents rotate on the inpatient lymphoma/myeloma service led by specialists in each field. At MSKCC, residents rotate on inpatient services that specialize in malignant hematology and solid tumor oncology. These rotations offer the opportunity to work with world-renowned oncologists, learn about cutting-edge therapies, manage oncologic emergencies, and engage in multidisciplinary care of the cancer patient.
The “Gold” team is an inpatient general medicine service staffed by both a hospitalist and a transplant hepatologist that preferentially admits patients with liver disease. NYP/WCM is a tertiary referral center for liver transplantation and accepts patients for transplant evaluations from a wide catchment area. This offers residents the opportunity to learn about the acute management of liver disease and work with a multidisciplinary team to evaluate patients for transplantation.
The inpatient renal service is supervised by a nephrology attending and cares mostly for patients with primary kidney diseases and related complications. Many admitted patients are followed by attendings affiliated with the Rogosin Institute, a world-class outpatient nephrology center that cares for patients with advanced kidney disease, including those requiring hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and renal transplants.
Founded in 1997, the Center on Aging within the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine provides comprehensive care for older adults and has been designated a National Center of Excellence by the John A. Hartford Foundation. All residents rotate through a four-week curriculum during their PGY-2 year to immerse them in the multidisciplinary care of this population. The rotation consists of two weeks on the inpatient geriatric service, one week of geriatric night float, and one week of ambulatory education that includes geriatric outpatient clinic, didactics, visits to skilled nursing facilities, and participation in the home call program.
Residents choose from a wide variety of electives to enrich their educational experience and explore career interests. The majority of elective time within the categorical track is built into the PGY-2 year to encourage residents to explore their career interests and develop professional portfolios in preparation for job and fellowship applications. The program emphasizes exposure to ambulatory rotations in accordance with the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) requirement of 10 months of ambulatory education over the three years of residency. Residents work with their faculty advisors to develop individualized learning plans to ensure every trainee has an elective schedule that meets their career-specific goals.
In addition to subspecialty exposure at all affiliate sites, our elective offerings also include unique opportunities to explore POCUS, medical education, and medical journalism at ABC News Medical Unit.
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