Pre-requisite: Open to Internal Medicine or Family Medicine residents at the PGY2 level or above
Duration for Elective: 2 or 4 weeks
Rotation Director: Peter Ossanna, MD
Educational Objective
To provide the IM or FP resident with the unique experience of practicing inpatient hospitalist medicine in a critical access hospital in rural Maine. Hospitalists in this setting manage a wide spectrum of patients presenting with both common and uncommon diagnoses, varying in acuity from stable to critically ill, without immediate access to specialty consultation on site, requiring the hospitalist to possess the ability and confidence to manage this patient population, arranging transfer to higher-level of care as appropriate. In addition, as a tourist destination, patients cared for at MDIH come from a diverse set of cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, requiring appropriate sensitivity by the hospitalist.
Experiences and Procedures
- Round as a daytime hospitalist with the hospitalist team (the resident joins the physician and advanced-practice clinician), having his or her own panel of patients, four consecutive 12 hours shifts weekly (no nights, weekends, or call required): this is flexible and can include weekends if desired.
- Manage medical patients on the inpatient medical-surgical unit and well as in our ICU (3-bed).
- Perform admissions, daily rounding, discharges, documenting in our EHR (Cerner). Provide medical consultation for surgical patients as requested.
- Work cooperatively and collaboratively with ED providers when called upon for a potential admission.
- Attend daily multidisciplinary rounds.
Housing
Mount Desert Island Hospital has recently built the Kogod Center, a new on-site housing facility. The building provides an extended learning experience with living and eating spaces alongside organized seminars in the evening. Learners each have their own bedroom and bathroom with shared cooking and living spaces. MERGE learners are billed a discounted rate of $375/week for lodging. Reimbursement may be available through the MERGE Collaborative per the MERGE Housing Reimbursement Policy.
