Mission

To train leaders in Army Medicine in all environments: inpatient medicine, outpatient medicine, academic medicine, and combat medicine.

Vision

To be a training program that creates Internists who serve the role as Physician and Army Officer to the fullest extent of each.

Aims

• To train excellent, flexible and reliable internal medicine physicians able to practice in all medical and military environments.
• To train resilient physicians who exhibit wellness and balance between work and personal life.
• To train confident teachers of medicine who seek to grow those around them as they grow themselves.
• To build a culture of interdependency and camaraderie among residents and internal medicine faculty.

We are proud to continue the Eisenhower Internal Medicine Residency’s long-standing tradition of excellent academics. The backbone of our academic program is the morning report conference led by the chief resident where we are fortunate to have unparalleled staff and sub-specialty staff attendance. Additional academics include a weekly management conference, weekly grand rounds, monthly morbidity and mortality conference, monthly journal club, and monthly EKG (electrocardiogram) rounds. These conferences are preceded by daily morning lectures from the sub-specialty staff, which address all of the curriculum covered on the internal medicine board exam.

In addition to the daily conferences, we have weekly academic half-days during which our residents may train in the procedure lab or the simulation center, participate in group board review led by the chief resident, or occasionally attend didactics from some of our other hospital services including orthopedic surgery and anesthesiology. Individual residents’ academic performance is tracked annually by the internal medicine in-training examination, which is used by a resident’s mentor to develop a personalized study curriculum.

• AUMC - Augusta University Medical Center
• EAMC - Eisenhower Army Medical Center

Our curriculum is designed to train versatile internal medicine physicians ready upon graduation to pass board certification as well as to practice in a variety of environments which might include an operational/deployed setting, primary care doctor and internal medicine consultant at an Army medical department activity (MEDDAC), faculty at an Army academic medical center (MEDCEN), or a fellowship training program in any of the internal medicine sub-specialties. The driving philosophy behind our program and its curriculum is that we can learn to practice comprehensive internal medicine safely, and have fun while we're doing it.

The curriculum blends inpatient experiences at the consultant, hospitalist, and intensive care levels of acuity with outpatient continuity experience. The first training year (“intern year”) places a heavy emphasis on learning the fundamentals of internal medicine care in the inpatient environment. The second year offers a “half-and-half” balance of inpatient medicine at the resident level and a slightly greater emphasis on outpatient/continuity and sub-specialty care. By the final year of training the emphasis is on outpatient and sub-specialty training for the completion of a well-rounded residency experience.

Our inpatient curriculum is divided between Eisenhower Army Medical Center (EAMC) and our partner institution Augusta University Medical Center (AUMC) which also sponsors an internal medicine residency program. At EAMC our residents enjoy a close relationship with our internal medicine and sub-specialty teaching faculty, unparalleled autonomy, and hands-on procedural training. At AUMC residents have the opportunity to manage a higher volume of higher acuity patients. Residents rotate through both the inpatient wards and the intensive care units at each institution, and are exposed to inpatient cardiology during all three years of training.

We are proud to boast an excellent continuity clinic experience. Residents spend four weeks of dedicated time in the internal medicine clinic where they will see both continuity clinic and “acute care clinic”, and get exposed to key primary care specialist services including cardiology, urology, and ophthalmology. Residents can also expect training in the internal medicine outpatient procedural skills. Residents spend at least one-and-a-half days in continuity clinic each week, even while on inpatient and sub-specialty rotations, from where they manage their continuity panels. First-year residents begin with an empanelment of 40 patients, which is sequentially increased until in the third year residents are managing panels of at least 120 patients.

We believe that the more subspecialty exposure our trainees get, the better generalists they become. At Eisenhower we do not have any fellowship programs therefore residents work one-on-one with sub-specialist attending physicians, leading to an unparalleled educational experience. These are 2-4 week rotations which consist of a combination of outpatient clinic and inpatient consultation. The eleven required sub-specialty rotations are: Hematology/oncology, Endocrinology, Nephrology, Rheumatology, Dermatology, Allergy, Neurology, Infectious disease, Gastroenterology, Pulmonology, and Cardiology.

We offer a selection of elective opportunities that allow residents to pursue exposure to research, to delve deeper into a sub-specialty of their choice, or to expand their primary care skills. We have partnerships with numerous medical centers around the Augusta, GA region, and we will help you create a new elective if you have a vision for something that is not currently offered. Our residents have even traveled overseas for their elective rotations. Here are some of the recent electives chosen: Research; Inpatient solid tumor and bone marrow transplant service at Augusta University Medical Center (AUMC); Inpatient transplant nephrology service at AUMC; Endocrinology at AUMC; Burn ICU rotation at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center, Doctor’s hospital; Travel medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; an administrative rotation in the internal medicine clinic; Anesthesia at EAMC.

Inpatient Wards

We have one internal medicine inpatient team that alternate admissions every other day with the family medicine team. First-years (PGY1s) and residents (PGY2s and PGY3s) on the inpatient ward teams work six 12-hour shifts per week, with four protected days off per four week period. All interns residents on night float admit to alternating internal medicine and family medicine, and will work six 12-hour shifts per week, with four protected days off per one-month period.

Intensive Care Unit

Interns and Residents in the ICU round six days per week, with four protected days off per one-month period.

“Off-Service”

PGY1s who are on sub-specialty or elective rotations are in the call pool to work Saturday night 12 hour cross cover shifts. Residents who are on sub-specialty or elective rotations can expect to work one 24-hour call shift either in the ICU or on the wards per one-month block, to relieve the night float and two ward teams for their days off.

The Eisenhower Internal Medicine program is proud to be part of Army Graduate Medical Education and our faculty is uniquely positioned to pass along their knowledge of military medicine and their personal experiences. All our residents must go to the Combat Casualty Care Course during residency. Residents interested in operational assignments are sometimes able to attend other “Army Schools” during their training.

All our residents must go to the Combat Casualty Care Course during residency.

On clinic weeks, Thursdays are dedicated toward academics, including a simulation session run by an internal medicine staff. The goal of these sessions is to provide residents an opportunity to make expedited medical decisions in acute situations, preparing them for wards, ICU and field medical environments. These sessions are tied to a skill lab where a specific procedure or skill is practiced.

Noon academics include staff led discussion about personal army experiences, deployments and long-term career planning. These sessions are meant to improve resident’s knowledge of career opportunities and ways to prepare for career milestones such as promotions. Residents also have opportunities to join multiple committees pertaining to resource management, GME, and ethics.

Scholarly activity is a requirement for graduation from our internal medicine program. All of our residents will present a poster or a podium presentation at a professional organization meeting. Recent meetings attended by our residents include the Army-Air Force American College of Physicians (ACP) annual meeting, the Georgia ACP annual meeting, the national ACP annual meeting, the Society for Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) annual meeting, and the American Federation for Medical Research Southern Regional Meeting. All of our residents will also present hospital-wide grand rounds in their third year (PGY3). Finally, we also have numerous residents involved in a variety of clinical research projects and hospital quality improvement projects, and our residents have published in national journals.

Residents present at morbidity and mortality conference where they have an opportunity to participate in the reflection of cases with poor outcomes. These are staff attended events that are focused on finding systemic issues that can then be addressed at an institution level. Also residents have an opportunity to sit in on the Quality Improvement Peer Review committee of DDEAMC, which reviews cases in order to improve institutional procedures and standard operating procedures.

Residents are matched with a faculty mentor early in intern year. This relationship allows for professional mentorship related to development as a physician, army officer, teacher, researcher, and leader over the course of residency. Mentors are chosen based on the residents’ personal and career goals, and provide a resource for feedback, academic recommendations, and specific advice for particular fields.

• MCG WellStar Augusta
• Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home

For applicants with questions or looking to set up either an in-person or a phone interview with our program leadership, please either email dha.eisenhower.eisenhower-amc.list.ddeamc-im@health.mil or call the internal medicine residency support office at 706-787-0674.

For students looking to set up an internal medicine clerkship rotation, sub-internship, or an elective rotation, please follow our GME Office guidance for medical student rotations.

To schedule an interview, please use the DDEAMC GME email. Attire will be the ASU (Army Service Uniform). The goal of the interview is to show the applicant the mission of DDEAMC, and to identify if the applicant’s goals align with DDEAMC’s mission.

Residents are matched with a faculty mentor early in intern year. This relationship allows for professional mentorship related to development as a physician, army officer, teacher, researcher, and leader over the course of residency. Mentors are chosen based on the residents’ personal and career goals, and provide a resource for feedback, academic recommendations, and specific advice for particular fields.

DDEAMC Internal Medicine’s goal is to provide specific opportunities for growth as an educator. This is accomplished through both informal and formal teaching. Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) and USUHS Medical students frequently rotate through DDEAMC on the inpatient service, ICU and internal medicine clinic and subspecialty clinics. This provides opportunities for informal teaching related to patient care. Also, weekly academics provides an opportunity for residents to present cases in management conference and morning report. Management cases are presented by the inpatient teams weekly, and all residents are expected to present at least one morning report per year.

Although we have no fellowship programs at Eisenhower, our staff include the range of internal medicine subspecialties. In fact, we think the absence of fellows at Eisenhower is one of our unique strengths, as it affords our residents invaluable opportunities to work directly with our sub-specialty faculty, getting both academic and procedural experience. Within our department we are proud to have all of the following subspecialty services at Eisenhower:

• Cardiology
• Pulmonology and Critical Care
• Gastroenterology
• Nephrology
• Endocrinology
• Infectious disease
• Rheumatology
• Allergy
• Dermatology
• Hematology Oncology

The Medical Center is also home to multiple other specialty services with whom residents work and from whom they have an opportunity to learn. We are proud to share the hospital with the following other residency programs and specialty services:

• General Surgery Residency Program
• Orthopedic Surgery Residency Program
• Urology
• Ophthalmology
• Anesthesiology and Certified Nurse Anesthetist Program
• Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Emergency Medicine Residency Program
• Family Medicine Residency Program
• Neurology
• Behavioral Health
• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

The driving philosophy behind our program is that we can learn to practice medicine comprehensively and safely, and have fun while we’re doing it. Eisenhower is a small Army Medical Center that is able to provide a unique home to our internal medicine residents. We have about 8 residents per class-year (PGY1, 2, and 3) for a total of 24 residents that form a very close-knit “family”. We’re fortunate that we also have an “extended family”, as our excellent internal medicine and sub-specialty faculty work so frequently and closely with our residents that we find each year new long-lasting bonds are forming at all levels. The close-knit atmosphere of our program is very much to the benefit of our residents, who find that their strengths and weaknesses are easily identified by a faculty who knows them personally, and who will work to capitalize those strengths and address any weaknesses. Year after year we see the products of this system as we graduate yet another class of highly capable Army internists and sub-specialty fellows.

Every resident who comes to Eisenhower is paired with a peer-level sponsor, a more senior resident who will help them navigate the transition to our program, and a faculty-level mentor who will periodically meet with them to help identify and accomplish their goals. Our formal mentorship program has been in place since 2016 and is one of the strengths of our program.

Our program knows that to train successful future Army Internists we need to teach and engrain an emphasis on personal wellness and well-roundedness. For a few years one of our own staff is/was the Army chapter of the American College of Physicians’ champion for physician wellness! We are continually developing new ideas to further our program of resident wellness, and program leadership works closely with residents to create an environment where we learn to practice medicine while having fun. Some of our more formal ‘wellness’ activities include:

• Annual resident retreat
• Quarterly wellness half-days
• Annual intern welcome party
• Annual holiday party
• Annual end of the year party