One-on-one, longitudinal mentoring: Each resident manages his or her own primary care practice, partnered with a superb clinician-educator at a unique Atrius Health (formerly HVMA) health centers in the metropolitan Boston area. The longitudinal relationship fosters accelerated opportunities for growth and is the cornerstone of our program. Residents practice side-by-side with their preceptors during the entire three years of residency, gaining valuable insight into longitudinal care and practice management.

Individualized patient panels: Atrius Health serves large and diverse clinic populations. Unlike most primary care programs in the country, residents build their own panels tailored to their clinical interests and career goals.

Team-based care: Residents practice alongside important health professionals, including nurses, case managers, pharmacists, and population management specialists.

Integrated subspecialty experiences: Sessions with BWH and Atrius subspecialists are integrated into the outpatient rotations so that all graduates are exposed to the full spectrum of outpatient management and learn advanced techniques in the care of complex patients.

BWH/Atrius primary care residents across all 3 years have their outpatient time scheduled together so as to make the following unique components of the program possible

CLINICAL EPIDEMIOLOGY Every week a resident leads a roundtable journal article discussion with an emphasis on epidemiologic methods and application to primary care practice. The session is overseen by program director and clinical epidemiologist Dr. Bill Taylor.

PATIENT-DOCTOR Residents engage in a weekly reflective session that focuses on the joys and the struggles of clinical practice. Not only does this foster support and community within the program, it also provides a space for personal healing and growth. This is one of the favorite and most cherished components of our curriculum and is led by facilitators Dr. Amy Ship and Dr. Gregory Johnson.

FACULTY TALKS These talks feature some of the best educators in the Brigham and Atrius community. Residents handpick speakers so lectures are always engaging, relevant and fun.

RESIDENT TALKS As an adjunct to faculty talks residents are also responsible for teaching a subset of topics in ambulatory care. Because learning is an active rather than passive practice, “res talks” allow residents the opportunity to enhance skills as teachers, leaders, communicators, clinicians and learners. Residents are mentored in teaching skills, the art of feedback, and engagement in interactive, adult­ learning styles that keep didactics engaging and useful.

JUNIOR CURRICULUM [(Click here for examples)] The program embraces the unique passions and interests of our residents outside of the walls of the exam room. Junior residents create short curriculums on topics about which they are passionate. Previous topics are wide-­ranging and include: Disabilities in Healthcare, Design Thinking, and Disruption in Healthcare.

HOWIE ROUNDS Residents bring cases for weekly discussion with master clinician Howard Lewine in a “morning-report” style format.

AND MORE! There is no limit to the flexibility in creating a curriculum that best serves the needs of our group. Other components of our curriculum include communication skills (Motivational Interviewing, The Serious Illness Project, Negotiation Skills, etc), longitudinal palliative care and chronic pain curriculums, workshops on implicit biases, and more.

The focus of the BWH/Atrius program is to enable residents to foster interests both inside and outside of the clinic. These include:

Department of Population Medicine Collaboration Residents in our program have the opportunity to pursue projects with the Department of Population Medicine , a research insitute that integrates the resources of Harvard Medical School, Atrius Health, and the insurance plan Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare. We also have the chance to attend weekly seminars focusing on a wide range of research topics at the institute.

Subspecialty time: In addition to standard subspecialty rotations, residents are encouraged to explore their clinical interests by participating in other clinical settings within Atrius Health, including weight management clinic, chiropractic care, suboxone group visits, and home visits. Residents in the past have also explored their interests at other institutions including Massachusetts General Hospital (Down Syndrome Adult Clinic, Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine) and non-profit organizations (Rosie’s Place).

Project time: Residents are given one-to-two half-days of protected time during each week on ambulatory block to pursue non-clinical interests that will help them further their passions within medicine and prepare for careers after residency. Some examples of recent research and QI projects include using predictive analytics to explore high risk populations and studying video discharge instructions. Residents have also used this time to explore food advocacy and teach medical students.

Elective time: Residents are given the opportunity to spend two-to-four weeks each year outside of regular didactics to “dive deep” into new systems or projects. Recent residents have spent time at the Atrius Innovation Center, Indian Health Service in Gallup NM, CMMI in D.C., and Iora Health in Hartford, Las Vegas and Seattle.