Internal Medicine Residency FAQs

1. What are the program's strengths?
   Our residents, who come from a wide variety of backgrounds and interests, are multi-talented and high-quality physicians. There is a healthy "work-hard, play-hard" ethic in the program. Henry Ford Hospital is a tertiary care center which is nationally recognized with significant depth to the care and treatment of patients. We are most known for our strong clinical training due to our wide spectrum of illnesses seen in our under-served population that come from varying ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. We are a level 1 trauma center with one of the nation’s largest ICUs and we have a multi-organ transplant center. In addition we are known for our contributions in the fields of interventional cardiology, interventional pulmonary, and advanced gastroenterology. We receive transfers from all over the state, which gives residents exposure to the sickest and most complex patients.
2. Why should I do my Internal Medicine training at Henry Ford Hospital?
   We have outstanding clinical training, and you will graduate to be a competent and confident clinician. We allow for personalization of your schedule to help you meet your career goals. We offer a series of workshops to allow interested residents to become certified medical educators. We have robust opportunity for research and quality improvement. We train everyone in basic skills during their intern year Essential Skills in Internal Medicine, and allow for 2 research months during second and third year. Last, we have vast exposure to subspecialty floors and very successful match and board passage rate.
3. What resources can you provide if I am interested in teaching?
   We are affiliated with Wayne State University and have medical students rotating on every floor. Our faculty all have professor status at Wayne State. There are opportunities to teach dedicated medical student lectures and help with curricular development and physical exam sessions. In addition, we have a Medical Education Track in order to train residents who are interested in pursuing medical education as part of their career. This is a curriculum given over 2 years, which includes workshops, modules, and direct observation.
4. What resources can you provide if I am interested in research?
   Please see more information on our Research page. We have robust research support including data analysts, statisticians, librarians, medical writers, and opportunity for grant funding. All residents will have an introduction to basic research skills during their intern year, with the opportunity to take 2 additional research months during their training. We allow up to $3000 (with approval from the program director) per academic year for participant travel funding.
5. What is the call schedule like?
   All inpatient floors have night float coverage every day of the week. Residents typically arrive by 7:00 am and sign out at 4:00 pm on non-admitting days. Admitting shifts occur every 4th day and run from 7 am until 8 pm. The medial ICU is divided into 3 pods, two of which have traditional 24+ 4 hour call every fourth night, and one of which has a hospitalist shift work type model. The CICU has overnight call every 5th night. Read more about our inpatient rotation structure.
6. How many patients will I carry as an intern?
   On average, interns will carry about 5-7 patients. Henry Ford Hospital strictly adheres to the ACGME/RRC cap for intern-to-patient load (maximum of 10 patients). You will have no more than 5 new admissions and 2 transfers per admitting shift.
7. How many hours will I work?
   Henry Ford Hospital is proud to announce that even prior to the ACGME resident work hour restrictions, the Internal Medicine program complied with all policies of this 80-hour work week mandate. Our chair of medicine was on the national ACGME Task Force for this project and was the only Internal Medicine program director on the committee.
8. What is night float?
   Night Float (NF) is a system to cover patients admitted at night and removes overnight call from inpatient rotations. Residents on night float will work 4 days on, 2 days off, and will rotate between 2 floors during the duration of night float. They work from 8 pm until 10 am the following morning. Interns do 2 weeks of night float, paired with a 2 week vacation. Senior residents do a 4 week block of night float, and a 2 week block of night float each year. Residents on NF cover 1 floor at a time and are responsible for all cross-coverage and admissions in the overnight period. The residents take admissions until 6:30 a.m. to allow time to complete work and present their patients on teaching rounds. There is no continuity clinic during night float.
9. How many days off are typical per month?
   While on elective rotations, you will typically have all weekends off, with the exception of a few weeks per year when you are on back-up and may be called in if a colleague is ill. While on an inpatient service and intensive care units, you will have 4 days off per month, which includes a golden weekend (where Saturday and Sunday are off).
10. What resources does the hospital library offer?
    The Sladen Library at Henry Ford Hospital library offers a number of services to residents including manuscript review, literature searches with active updates, and training on how to use online databases as well as EndNote. Online resources can be accessed from home and include: PubMed and Up to Date, among many others.
11. What Medicine fellowships are offered at Henry Ford Hospital?
    Allergy, Bone and Mineral Metabolism, Cardiology, Electrophysiology, Interventional Cardiology, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Gastroenterology, Hematology and Medical Oncology, Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, Nephrology, Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care, Rheumatology, Sleep Disorders, Transplant Nephrology. Learn more about the fellowships offered.
12. How does the department assist with obtaining a fellowship?
    The Program Director, Associate program directors and Chief Medical Residents act as mentors to help guide you through the application process. The Internal Medicine residency will allow you to take seven (7) days for interviews during your 3rd year. There is also a series of "Fellowship/Career Preparation” lectures during the spring that are also given as an opportunity to have facetime with our sub-specialty program directors and faculty.
13. What benefits do you offer?
    We offer medical, dental, and optical insurance covering residents and their family. There is an option for life and disability insurance. You will have malpractice coverage. You will have a food-stipend for on call days. We provide lunch daily at noon conference. Parking is free. We have a hospital-affiliated child care program available and on-campus apartments available.
14. Now, that I have made the decision that I want to come to Henry Ford Hospital, what can I expect while living here?
    Typically, most physicians and employees live in the metropolitan Detroit area, which includes Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties. Oakland County is one of the most affluent counties per capita in the US and Detroit is in the middle of an amazing transformation. True, the image hasn’t always been this way, but there is a strong revitalization spirit in the air that is very infectious. A quick search on the internet shows many great things to see and do while living here. Typically, most physicians and employees live in the metropolitan Detroit area, which includes Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties. Oakland County is one of the most affluent counties per capita in the US and five local communities have made the top 25 of a list of the safest places in the US to live. See our page on things to do in Detroit.