Pre-requisite: PGY 2 or 3
Duration for Elective: 4 weeks preferable, 2 weeks if only option
Rotation Director: Nate Donaldson, DO
Educational Objective
Provide resident experiences in a NCQA Certified Patent Centered Medical Home, and in the community collaborating closely with community–based services for high risk & high need patients.
Experiences and Procedures
- Each of the four clinical sites offer a wide array of family-based services delivered by physicians, NP, PA, Behavioral Health providers, and nurse educators. The resident will see the breath of family medicine in a rural setting. They will spend 3 days/week in a clinic and 2 days in the community. Trenton Health Center and Cooper Gilmore Health Center offer office-based procedures including joint injections, I&D, skin biopsy (punch, shave, and full thickness excision with moderate complexity closures), trigger point injections, simple lac repairs, and intermediate lac repairs.
- More unique aspects of each clinical site option include:
- Trenton Health Center offers occupational medicine including EMGs with a physiatrist and a chance to participate in Aviation Medical Exams.
- Cadillac Family Practice in Bar Harbor has FP’s who also practice hospitalist medicine.
- Cooper Gilmore Health Center in Bar Harbor serves an older population.
- Southwest Harbor Community Health Center offers an integrative holistic medicine approach.
- The goal of the community-based part of the rotation is to help residents learn how to identify and work with community-based services depending on patients’ needs. This will either be with hospital-based post discharge care managers, or palliative care SW or Nurse. We have close collaboration with community not-for-profit and state supported/mandated services. Residents can also work with recovery coaches in low barrier harm reduction setting for patients with SUD and homeless; or care coordinators to help patients navigate a complicated system to receive care.
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.
