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Over the years about 60-65% of our graduates (in both the University track and the FQHC track) have stayed in North Carolina to practice medicine, and that trend seems to be increasing, with some recent years in which 100% of our graduates stayed in North Carolina. We have about 10-15% of our graduates who choose academic careers. The scope of practice varies, but those who do obstetrics tend also to include inpatient care. Others include inpatient medicine, but choose not to do obstetrics. Our goal is to train residents so that they can leave this program feeling competent to provide full-scope FP (delivering babies, inpatient care, procedures, ambulatory & ED care) if they choose. Lifestyle factors play a big part in graduates’ choices about practice.  After gaining experience in an FQHC, we have seen that most graduates from that track end up practicing in rural, under resourced communities, whether that be in their hometowns, or another practice of their choice.

One of the many strengths of our program is our Family Centered Perinatal Care curriculum. Our program has been reported in the literature (Fam Med, 2003; 35:174-80) as a unique blend of education and patient care that combines the viewpoints and philosophies of family physicians and midwives. The RRC requires 3 months of OB/GYN — we have 6 weeks of OB with obstetricians in a large community hospital and then 4.5 months of family centered perinatal care with the FP faculty. Of those 4.5 months in the 2nd and 3rd year, only 1.5 months of that time is spent in “obstetrics”, with the remainder being inclusive of care for newborns, young children, adolescents, sexual health, family planning, and STI treatment. On average, upon graduation our residents do somewhere between 100-110 deliveries over the course of their residency.

Some other strengths of our program include newborn care, FMC children’s acute care clinic, pediatric care at a health department, urban and rural pediatric settings are all part of residents’ experience during FCPC months. The residents also have 4 months of pediatrics with the Pediatrics services at Wake and at UNC Hospitals.

The residency program continues to achieve full accreditation annually.
Since this is such a common filler question during interviews, we are probably making it difficult for candidates by answering it here. On the other hand, for those who are creative, they will be grateful for the opportunity to explore the question in depth using the list below as jump-off points or examine other avenues of inquiry entirely.

Strengths

  • Broad scope family medicine training including FCPC, inpatient care, and the full spectrum of outpatient office practice throughout all three years of residency, all taught by Family Physicians
  • Broad procedural experience taught by Family Physicians: colposcopy, vasectomy, circumcisions, dermatologic procedures, acupuncture
  • Midwife on faculty
  • Residents as teachers- we provide opportunities to mentor and teach medical students and other health career students
  • Quality improvement training and training in new models of care
  • Blend of community hospital, outpatient experience and tertiary care experience–best of all worlds
  • Exposure to diverse group of talented faculty clinicians, teachers, researchers–strong identity as an academic department
  • Diversity of resident physicians–we attract a unique group of residents who enrich our program with their individual interests and strengths.
  • The state of NC is beautiful! And this part of North Carolina provides particularly nice lifestyle options.

Weaknesses

  • Intensity of program. This program is intended for candidates who are interested in being trained for the broadest scope of family medicine. It takes commitment to this concept. Candidates who are looking for intensity of the program to significantly decrease after internship might find our program too demanding for their style. Our second and third year residents have increasing leadership responsibilities in patient care and teaching of other residents and medical students.
  • Driving. Several of our rotations involve some commuting (the rotations at Wake Medical Center in Raleigh are most notable in this regard). All the residents say these rotations are ‘worth the drive.’ However, for those who do not like driving or commuting this could be a turn-off.
Federally Qualified Healthcare Center, also known as a community health center. These unique clinics receive federal funds to help provide care for patients without insurance, migrant farmworkers, and other historically underserved populations. We also have 340B pharmacies at each site and have access to many outpatient medications at greatly reduced costs.
Most residents travel between 25-50 minutes to their clinic sites. There is protected time to travel to clinic while on most rotations and for conference (i.e. clinic starts at 2pm instead of 1pm)
The are no differences in the curriculum and the differences in clinical learning opportunities are small. All inpatient experiences will take place in the same locations for all tracks. In terms of the continuity clinic experience, there are some differences in the patient population and clinical opportunities between the three sites. The FQHC tracks sees more uninsured and Spanish-speaking patients, as well as higher numbers of pediatric and prenatal patients. All sites have procedure clinics, and for certain specialized procedures which do not exist at the rural clinics (such as colposcopy), residents from all tracks have the same opportunity to participate.
Although fluency in Spanish is preferred for practicing at the FQHC sites, residents of all Spanish levels have thrived and advanced their language skills. All residents will take a standardized language proficiency exam to determine if you are proficient enough to practice independently (i.e. without an interpreter). If interpretation is needed, this is provided either by an MA or a phone interpreter in clinic. As you advance in your Spanish language you will have the opportunity to take the exam again periodically throughout residency to assess your fluency and if you are ready to practice independently in Spanish.
All sites are working on how to engage with the community in a more meaningful way. At Prospect Hill there is a Farmworker outreach program embedded in the clinic, and the outreach workers often travel out to work camps to perform vaccinations and health screenings. There are opportunities to go to local high schools for sports physicals. On a more fun note, the clinic has a tradition of participating in the Yanceyville Town Christmas Parade! In Siler City, several local grassroots organizations help to promote community health, including El Vinculo Hispano and the Chatham Health Alliance.
Generally, the same places as the University track residents, since all of the inpatient experiences will be the same (and that takes up a lot of space on the calendar). This includes Durham, Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, and Carrboro.
We follow the ACGME guidelines for frequency and duration of call and no more than 80 hours per week on average for any month. First years on FMIS service will have one month of days (6a-6p) and two 2-week blocks of nights (6p-6a). On other services, day shifts and night shifts vary in duration and schedule. Second year residents on FMIS are now on a night float system working (6p-6a) during half of their inpatient month. There are no longer 24-hr calls on the FMIS rotation.

Cross-covering, or taking call on FMIS during a different rotation, is rare and only occurs 2-3 times a year with our new schedule.

Third year residents work from 6a-6p 7 days of a week while on inpatient (three to four separate times throughout the year).

In the past, residents would take q3-4 day 24 hr call on our FCPC service. As of 2022 this has changed to a day/night float service per resident request, with residents now taking only three 24 hr calls over the 6 week block. In general, the day and night shifts are 7a-7p and 7p-7a.

This is a common question we receive from candidates who are concerned about the way FM residents are treated in academic medical centers. It is our feeling that the high quality of our residents over the years has built a strong reputation among their colleagues in the institutions where we work, and that there is an expectation for strong clinical skills in the FM residents. Accordingly, we feel that the other departments treat their off-service FM residents as equal members of whatever team they are on.

Additionally, our faculty hold several of the most important positions within the UNC system. These positions include: President of the UNC Physician Network, Director of the Office of International Activities, Medical Director of the UNC Health Alliance, Vice Dean for the UNC School of Medicine, Medical Director and Vice President of Ambulatory Care Administration, Dean of Clinical Education for the SOM and the President of the North Carolina Institute of Medicine.

Every incoming intern has a total of $2,000 that can be used over the three years for educational expenses, including books, subscriptions and travel to conferences. Most residents have used it for 1-2 conferences, travel to elective rotations and subscriptions.

Effective July 1, 2022, the current academic year salary scale for residents is:

* R1 – $58,587.36
* R2 – $60,676.72
* R3 – $62,872.68

Other UNC housestaff benefits can be accessed here.

 The University of North Carolina ranks fifth in the country among departments of Family Medicine in NIH funding for research. Reports of research in this department has included prevalence of Disney cartoon characters shown smoking, relationship of residency program characteristics to match outcomes, and prevalence of sexual concerns among female patients in outpatient clinics. Numerous other research projects have conducted investigation into rural health manpower, managing dizziness, nursing home effectiveness for Alzheimer patients, pap smear quality, and management of low back pain. Current research projects are exploring spirituality in medicine, effectiveness of acupuncture, and the treatment and management of osteoporosis.

A common theme of much of the research in our department is improving the effectiveness of primary care. The faculty members involved in these projects are involved in residency teaching. Our philosophy is that ongoing patient care related research enriches the learning environment. Residents are encouraged but not required to do research. However, they are required to do two projects during their residency. In Year 2 during Family Medicine Month, they do a short group project examining an aspect of preventive care. In Year 3, they do a major project over the course of the year aimed at improving some aspect of the actual practice as it is conducted in the FMC. Both projects involve a detailed examination of the questions related, thorough search and review of the literature, chart reviews of current practices, summary of findings and recommendations. Formal presentations at conference time serve to complete these projects.

Yes! The opportunity to teach and to recruit medical students into Family Medicine is one of the attractive features of working at UNC.

The University of North Carolina Family Medicine student program is a vital part of the Department’s mission in the institution. Residents’ interactions with students on clinical rotations are vital to attracting medical students to family medicine. Family Medicine interns also work with third year students when rotating on Pediatrics, Medicine, Surgery and Obstetrics services; our inpatient service has both acting interns and third-year medical students.

In third year, our residents have an opportunity to precept under supervision in the FMC. All residents also help with coverage of the Student Health Action Coalition (SHAC) free clinic that is organized and coordinated by the medical students at UNC Medical School. The continued presence of psychiatry first-year residents on our service emphasizes the importance of gaining teaching and supervisory skills.

The Department of Family Medicine and University of North Carolina are nationally renowned for the variety and quality of fellowship training available. Our fellows have gone on to take leadership roles in the AAFP and in departments across the country. Through our residency and fellowship training, almost 10% of all faculty in Family Medicine in the United States are graduates of the UNC Department of Family Medicine. Examples of our fellowship opportunities include:

Primary Care Sports Medicine 
Career Development Fellowships , which can be tailored to your educational goals. Examples of recent fellows’ clinical foci include FCPC with operative OB, FCPC without operative OB, Global Health, and Hospitalist training.
Geriatrics
Preventive Medicine
Faculty Development Fellowship

Primary Care Research Fellowship

We participate in the Electronic Residency Application System, and all applicants should consult their respective medical schools to learn how to use this system. Using the information available through ERAS we screen candidates’ applications and will begin inviting individuals for interviews as early as we can, usually around September. We conduct formal interviews on most Mondays and Fridays from October through January. The evening before interview days, our residents meet with candidates informally over a dinner held at a resident’s house. Further application information is available via this link.

At every step of the process, residents play a very active role in selecting their colleagues. In early February, we prepare a draft rank listing of all applicants based on a scoring of academic records and experiences (50%) and interviews (50%). The interview score is obtained by averaging faculty and resident evaluations, and all evaluations are counted equally. This draft match list is then modified at a combined resident-faculty meeting before being submitted to the NRMP.

We honor the spirit and the letter of the National Residency Match Program, which is designed to protect the interests of medical students. Applicants should expect to receive an acknowledgement from the program after their visit, but in no case will there be a promise of a position in advance of the match. We encourage further communication from candidates. Often there are additional questions that need to be addressed after getting back home and some people like to come back for a second look. We are perfectly amenable to that and will be happy to help anyone who wishes to do so make the necessary arrangements.

Yes, please do! Most applicants rank both tracks in their applications– and you cannot be considered for a track if you didn’t rank it at all, so please rank each program separately using their respective number.
Since 1993, the program has successfully filled all its positions except one (in 1999) through the Match. That position was filled the day after with an exceptional candidate. Since 1999, we have been blessed with fantastic candidates who successfully match into our program. In fact, in 2019, we increased our program size from 11 to 14 residents per year and had no difficulty recruiting high-caliber, passionate residents to join our professional family. That being said, if you like what a program offers, it fits your career directions, and has the right combination of features to meet your personal needs, that is probably of higher significance than the program’s Match record.
The Triangle has much to recommend it as a place to live. Three outstanding institutions (UNCDukeNC State) offer a wide variety of graduate programs and employment, as well as an excellent variety of cultural offerings. Unemployment is low, with many industries located in the Research Triangle Park and an economy that continues to have signs of growing. Finally, the climate allows year-round outdoor recreation. Both the ocean and the mountains are within “weekend distance.” The attractiveness of the area combined with a very comfortable climate throughout the year have made the triangle area a very attractive retirement community as well.

Updated: August 2022