Hospitals

The clinical environment of the Vanderbilt Internal Medicine Program offers the advantages of a metropolitan population base and a cohesive, fully integrated multi-hospital system. Training is centered at the Vanderbilt University Hospital (VUH), a comprehensive general hospital for the Nashville-midstate area and a referral center for the southeastern and central United States. The adjacent Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) adds to the clinical base, assuring that our residents care for patients from every socioeconomic background and enhancing the opportunity to develop clinical competencies across a wide range of internal medicine problems.

Kristina Buchholz, MD University of South Dakota Ambulatory Chief Resident   The faculty at Vanderbilt are second to none.  All are excellent clinicians and many are leaders within their field.  They are easily approachable and committed to resident education.  Their techniques are both enthusiastic and challenging.  Rounds are conducted daily at the bedside providing excellent patient care along with instruction in physical examination skills and demonstration of the doctor-patient relationship.  The mentoring provided by the faculty at Vanderbilt provides residents with the necessary knowledge, skills, and confidence to succeed both during residency and beyond.

Vanderbilt University Hospital

The 832-bed Vanderbilt University Hospital is both a comprehensive general hospital for Nashville/Davidson County and a major tertiary care center, serving more than 35,000 inpatients each year and attracting referrals from the central and southeastern United States and several foreign countries. The staff represent all the major medical and surgical specialties, and the emergency service has Level I trauma certification. The Vanderbilt Clinic system consists of more than 90 ambulatory clinics in various specialties to which patients make approximately 1,000,000 visits annually.

The Department of Medicine inpatient service has approximately 200 beds organized in 5 clinical units: general medicine, medical subspecialties, CCU/cardiovascular medicine, medical intensive care unit, and bone marrow transplant (BMT) service. All of the inpatient beds on the medicine service are in individual rooms, a feature conducive to patient comfort while assuring a quiet, private venue for bedside teaching rounds. The facilities include a 26-bed state-of-the-art medical intensive care unit, a bone marrow transplantation center, a dialysis center, and a 26-bed cardiovascular unit plus additional cardiac beds with full telemetry capability, assuring an integrated, comprehensive service for the entire spectrum of patients with heart disease, including those undergoing cardiac transplantation. Ancillary services include IV therapy and phlebotomy teams. Our residents enjoy the advantages of an electronic medical record and a sophisticated computer order-entry system (with built-in educational protocols) that have become the standard for other centers across the country.

Night call on the general medicine and subspecialty services is every fourth night.  On the MICU it is every third.

Veterans Affairs Hospital

The Nashville Veterans Affairs Medical Center (NVAMC) is a 334-bed acute care facility with medicine, neurology, surgery, and psychiatry services. Located adjacent to Vanderbilt University Hospital and School of Medicine, the Nashville VAMC functions as a primary care and referral center for eligible veterans from middle Tennessee and south-central Kentucky. A strong, effective academic affiliation dates from shortly after World War II when initial ties were made between VA Hospitals and Universities. All VA medical staff have academic appointments within the Medical School. The housestaff, faculty and clinical conferences are fully integrated with Vanderbilt. Approximately three months of the PGY1 year are spent on rotations at the VAMC.

Medicine residents rotate through the inpatient VA general medicine service, medical intensive care unit, subspecialty consult services, and the outpatient clinic. The inpatient medicine service is staffed by six housestaff teams, each comprised of one resident, two interns, and one or two third-year medical students. Night call is every sixth, with a "long" and "short" call system. Team teaching rounds are conducted daily by a member of the Vanderbilt faculty. Patients with interesting diagnostic or therapeutic problems are presented to the Chief and Assistant Chief of Medicine three times per week at Morning Report. Other scheduled teaching activities include subspecialty conferences and noon conferences four days a week.

Medicine residents rotate through the inpatient VA general medicine service, medical intensive care unit, subspecialty consult services, and the outpatient clinic. The inpatient medicine service is staffed by six housestaff teams, each comprised of one resident, two interns, and one or two third-year medical students. Night call is every sixth, with a "long" and "short" call system. Team teaching rounds are conducted daily by a member of the Vanderbilt faculty. Patients with interesting diagnostic or therapeutic problems are presented to the Chief and Assistant Chief of Medicine three times per week at Morning Report. Other scheduled teaching activities include subspecialty conferences and noon conferences four days a week.