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Eau Claire Curriculum

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Maternity Care

Maternity care has long been a strength of the Eau Claire program. Obstetrics rotations are at Sacred Heart Hospital, which offers a balanced experience in low-risk, high-risk, and operative obstetrics. The hospital has a friendly, high-touch style comfortable for family physicians and their patients.

All family medicine faculty practice and teach maternity care. Residents perform 40-60 deliveries during the program, and are well prepared to manage antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum care in future practice.

Care of Adults

Residents have responsibility for managing a broad array of medical problems through the internal medicine teaching service at Sacred Heart Hospital. During this challenging, rewarding experience, residents collaborate with internists, internal medicine subspecialists, and family physicians.

Residents complete rotations at Luther Hospital in cardiology and in hospitalist general medicine.

Residents learn and practice high-complexity and teamwork skills using a Human Patient Simulator lab that is one of only a hundred of its kind in the nation. The lab is developing a curriculum for training programs nationwide.

Care of Children

Eau Claire residents gain a broad range of pediatric experience in both the clinic and hospital settings. In the clinic, residents care for their own population of pediatric patients, often as the doctor for the child's whole family.

During their first-year of residency, they complete a pediatric rotation at a local inpatient unit and also a rotation in an urban setting. At the local general hospital, they work one-on-one with an attending pediatrician to care for all newborn, special care nursery and general acute care pediatric patients of the busy Luther-Mayo practice. The second part of the academic year, they work at Children's Hospital in St. Paul, which offers an inpatient family medicine team treating children with acute and chronic illnesses in a large pediatric hospital.

The pediatric training experience is rounded out with two rotations working one-on-one with local pediatricians in their busy outpatient practices.

Emergency Medicine

Residents gain emergency medicine experience at Sacred Heart Hospital's Emergency Medical and Trauma Center, which is staffed with board-certified emergency specialists.

During this rotation, residents manage all levels of emergency care, from routine lacerations to life-threatening trauma and cardiac arrest. Residents complete a required second month of emergency medicine experience in the second or third year.

Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM)

Evidence-based medicine is a process of lifelong learning and "information mastery" that helps physicians stay up to date while improving clinical behavior and patient outcomes. This new paradigm requires different skills and attitudes than those traditionally taught in medical schools and residency programs.

The Eau Claire EBM curriculum focuses on:

  • Internet access in every exam room and at every resident's desk, which makes learning and practicing rapid literature searches practical;
  • Accessibility of commonly used resources from within the electronic medical record
  • Personal digital assistants (PDAs) for all incoming residents
  • Inclusion of an EBM component in virtually all conference topics
  • Instruction on practical EBM techniques and critical appraisal of the medical literature
  • Evidence-based approach to laboratory test ordering

Behavioral Science

Our faculty teaches how to care for the patient's physical and psychosocial needs. This is accomplished through a longitudinal, competency based curriculum, combined with an individualized practicum and individual coaching from our onsite behavioralist. Our behavioralist teaches:

  • Interviewing and assessment skills
  • Family counselingskills
  • Community agency referrals

Using a solution-focused approach, we teach residents to help patients change the lifestyle factors that impact their health.

Because all change occurs in the context of family and culture, we stay attuned to these factors in both teaching and patient care. Our longitudinal, competency-based curriculum allows residents to achieve skills at an individual pace.

Practice Management and Quality Improvement

Family physicians need a broad knowledge of practice management issues to be successful in a changing health care environment. Practice management is the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to efficiently lead and improve the elements of a medical practice. This includes compliance, organization, administration, communication, and marketing.

Features of this popular rotation include:

  • Combines block and longitudinal experience
  • Explore different practice organization and business models
  • Learn basics of personnel management, medical records
  • Negotiation of contracts
  • Coding and billing
  • Medical records

The practice management curriculum includes a required quality improvement project for second- or third-year residents. Quality improvement processes are critical when managing chronic disease, since chronic disease requires an informed, activated patient and a prepared, proactive practice team. During this rotation, residents learn to implement quality improvement skills while working on an interdisciplinary team to improve system flow issues as well as patient care issues.

Computer Resources

Our electronic medical record system and computer network provide instant, organized access to patient information and the internet. Residents are provided with a personal digital assistant and a laptop computer to facilitate recordkeeping and access frequently used references.

Community Connections

Residents are actively involved in the community through:

  • Tar Wars talks at local schools
  • Hospital ethics and other committees
  • Community health initiatives
  • Health fairs and health promotion talks for elders
  • The only comprehensive geriatric assessment program in northwest Wisconsin
  • "Reality Check" a youth alcohol prevention and intervention program
  • Providing care at a local Free Clinic
  • Providing sports physical for state sponsored programs

Resident Support

Our program sponsors activities for the resident, family, and all clinic staff to encourage a healthy balance between the demanding clinical responsibilities and the need for social support and relationship building with co-workers.

Support activities include:

  • Program Orientation: Includes ACLS, NRP, and ALSO training and introductions to the people and places that they will be learning over the next 3 years. This includes a social event for all residents, faculty, and staff.
  • Bi-annual social event for residents, families, faculty, and clinic staff to enjoy "fun" time together.
  • Informal resident monthly social events
  • "Res Rap":A bi-weekly time for residents to discuss any issues they may have without faculty present. They may request the presence of the behavioralist at these meetings to assist with problem-solving.
  • "Res/Fac Rap: A bi-weekly time for residents and faculty to discuss issues or concerns or to give updates on current events.
  • Annual Holiday Gala sponsored by Sacred Hospital: A formal event held exclusively for physicians.
  • Thursday Educational Conferences:
    • Weekly lectures and seminars covering all the required curriculum areas.
    • Plenty of informal time to "catch up" with peers over lunch
  • Advisor-advisee meetings:
    • Bi-annual meetings scheduled however residents are encouraged to consult with their advisor at any time. They may also choose to schedule a meeting with any of the other faculty to discuss areas of particular interest.
  • Resident Support Group: A quarterly group facilitated by the onsite behavioralist to discuss resident identified topics.
  • Individual Resident Support: Voluntary individual support meetings with the behavioralist.
  • Employee Assistance Program
  • Free access to recreation centers