Mission

To develop fully competent Army Family Physicians who are committed to improving health and building readiness for their patients, their families, and their communities at home and on the battlefield.

Vision

Unrelenting pursuit of excellence as we train future Army Family Physicians to care for those we are privileged to serve. Anytime, Anywhere—Always.

Aims

• Develop Family Physicians who provide compassionate, high-quality primary care with an emphasis on continuity care.
• Train highly competent Army Family Physicians provide exceptional patient care in a variety of environments (clinic, hospital, austere, underserved).
• Create Family Physicians who are competent scholars in research, performance improvement, and evidence-based medicine.
• Graduate military physician leaders who are competent in influencing and driving change within their organizations and communities.

Tuesdays

• 12:15 - 12:45 p.m. Noon report

Wednesdays

• 7:15 - 8 a.m. Board Review
• 7:40 a.m. - 12 p.m. Academic Half Day
• 1 - 5 p.m. Academic Half Day 

Thursdays

• 12:15 - 12:45 p.m. Noon report

Fridays

• 12:15 - 12:45 p.m. Noon report

• Advanced Obstetrics
• Anesthesiology
• Cardiology
• Clinical Pharmacy
• Developmental Pediatrics
• Dermatology
• Emergency Medicine
• Endocrinology
• Faculty Development
• Global Emerging Infections Surveillance
• Hospitalist Medicine
• Medical Informatics
• Operational Medicine
• Osteopathic Manipulation Medicine
• Performance Improvement
• Preventive Medicine
• Point of Care Ultrasound
• Pulmonology
• Radiology
• Research
• Sleep Medicine
• Sports Medicine

Residents must be scheduled for in-house call no more frequently than every third night (when averaged over a four-week period) As part of their educational experiences, Family Medicine residents are required to provide in-house coverage for the Newborn, obstetrics, and Family Medicine services as below:

• Night Admitting Physician (NAP) Team Senior: Covered by Float Sunday - Thursday Nights, Call Fri/Family Medicine PGY2 Saturday.
• Night Admitting Physician (NAP) Team Junior: Covered by Float Sunday - Thursday Nights, none Fri/Sat
• Home Call Resident: At this time, no Home Call, but may be required Friday/Saturday night if census is high.
• Labor and Delivery: Covered by Labor and Delivery PGY1 or PGY2 Sunday - Thursday, Call Fri for PGY2 and PGY3s

While residents are on outpatient rotations, they can anticipate completing 1-2 weekend call shifts per outpatient month where they either fill the roll of the Night Admitting Physician senior/junior or the Labor and Delivery resident.

The WAMC Family Medicine Residency offers a diverse core and adjunct faculty with a wide variety of operational experiences along with close partnerships with many operational units located on Fort Liberty. Our military curriculum is integrated into every aspect of our residents’ clinical experiences, with unique opportunities to care for patients engaging in airborne operations/jump coverage, Expert Field Medical Badge, Expert Medical Badge, Special Operations selection and training, H2F, THOR3, and many other unique military experiences specific to the Fort Liberty area. We also have a dedicated 2-week rotation on operational medicine which includes a one-week Capstone exercise that incorporates trauma training, Individual Critical Task List, and a Mass Casualty Exercise.

• Basic Life Support (BLS)
• Advanced Life Support (ALS)
• Pediatric Life Support (PALS)
• Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP)
• Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics (ALSO)
• Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS)
• AWHONN Fetal Heartrate Monitoring (FHM)
• Sugar & Safe Care Temperature Airway Blood Pressure Lab Work Emotional Support (STABLE)

The simulation curriculum is an essential component of the WAMC Family Medicine Residency training. Both Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and Defense Health Agency (DHA) require frequent simulation exercises and training to ensure competency in patient care, teamwork, communication, and procedural care. Womack Army Medical Center has a robust Simulation Department that is essential to the Residency’s academic curriculum. The Simulation Department offers high fidelity simulation experiences including interactive adult, neonatal, pediatric, obstetric, and trauma mannequins, dog mannequins for veterinary trauma education, virtual reality simulation, ultrasound trainers, and much more.

Our program does not have a formal leadership curriculum. However, we include didactic lectures during academics, some of which come from the GME leadership curriculum. Residents also have two weeks at the end of training dedicated to transition to practice which is dedicated to training them to lead as a medical director or battalion surgeon. Residents are also expected to assume increasing leadership roles as they progress in training.

Must obtain five Research points with a presentation at one local, state, or regional conference. Must give two lectures per academic year, totaling a minimum of six lectures. Must volunteer for community service in at least two iterations throughout residency.

• Residents are required to participate in one quality improvement project per year. The PGY1 and PGY2 year they must be actively participating and the PGY3 year they are expected to lead a project. Projects can be presented at the WAMC Annual Research Symposium.
• Residents are required to earn five Process Improvement (PI)/Quality Improvement (QI) points during their training. The program will be starting several A3 projects which align with Department of Primary Care initiatives and partner faculty, residents, and nursing staff to drive improvements in patient care.

Womack Army Medical Center offers multiple avenues for pursing professional development. Because of our large operational presence, there are frequent opportunities for Leader Professional Development (LPD) seminars related to the care of patients in deployed and operational settings. Similarly, the program prioritizes participation in the monthly Medical Corps LPD Series, Faculty Development seminars run by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and faculty-driven seminars, advising, mentorship, and sponsorship.

Womack Army Medical Center

Womack possesses sufficient specialties, services and technology to provide a superb Family Medicine residency experience. The hospital employs both military and civilian board-certified clinical staff who provide 24-hour supervision of residents. There are over 208,000 eligible beneficiaries in the catchment area. Over 90,000 of these patients are enrolled to the Department of Family Medicine with over 13,000 enrolled to the Family Medicine Residency Clinic (WFMRC). This large military patient base includes all demographic categories and provides tremendous volume for routine cases as well as opportunities to treat unusual global pathology. The Graduate Medical Education Department provides institutional-level guidance, support, and oversight.

Wake Forest Baptist Health

The core Pediatric Ward (PGY1), Intensive Care Unit (PGY2), and Pediatric Emergency Medicine (PGY3) rotations occur at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center utilizing faculty board certified in pediatrics, internal medicine and pediatrics/emergency medicine respectively. All three rotations are considered inpatient rotations and are not leave eligible. As residents are away from their primary site, they are unable to participate in continuity clinics during these rotations. The Pediatric Ward and Pediatric Emergency Medicine rotations have provided residents with a robust inpatient pediatric experience where they see a high volume of both typical and atypical acutely ill presentations in children including trauma. They easily meet program requirements for 250 pediatric inpatient encounters. The ICU experience provides residents with a high volume, adult intensive care experience where they learn initial identification and stabilization of critically ill patients as well as gain familiarity with ongoing management and monitoring.

VA Medical Center (Fayetteville)

The facility serves as the community nursing home for the geriatrics portion of the curriculum. The geriatrics curriculum includes a longitudinal nursing home experience where each PGY2 and PGY3 manages a minimum of 2 continuity nursing home patients every 1-2 months for their final two years of training. Clinical supervision and teaching are provided by the medical center's geriatrics staff who are board certified in either family medicine or internal medicine.

Cape Fear Valley Medical Center

The experience provided by the Cape Fear Valley Health Medical Center is to augment the Womack Army Medical Center Family Medicine Resident Emergency Medicine clinical educational curriculum to build upon emergency resuscitation and stabilization skills with medically, compromised, moderately to critically ill adult patients in a level 2 trauma center. The curriculum involves a required one-month rotation for PGY3 residents. The FM resident will be under direct supervision of the Cape Fear Valley Medical Center teaching faculty board certified in Emergency Medicine. Cape Fear Valley Health Medical Center provides all necessary support which includes: access to the electronic medical record, nursing/ancillary support, and attending physicians with emergency medicine skills.

Our goal is to provide you with excellent hands-on experience in a primary care setting, caring for the full spectrum of patients in a variety of clinical settings. Schedules include outpatient clinic, 1-2 weeks of inpatient medicine and Family Medicine specialty clinics.

Interviewing medical students will present at noon report one day during your rotation, schedule permitting. Plan to work six days of inpatient during your rotation, 12 days if on a Sub-internship. Noon report and lectures are conducted in the large conference room. There will be two academic ½ days and two academic full days per 4-week block on Wednesdays.

Eligibility Criteria

The WAMC Family Medicine Program and Program Director comply with the criteria for resident eligibility as specified by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), the Womack Graduate Medical Education Institutional Resident Guidelines and U.S. Army standards. All residents are members of the U.S. Army. We do not accept civilian trainees.

Selection to the Program

The MODS system is used for selection of residents into the Family Medicine program. Medical students and post-graduate year selectees are determined by the Joint Service Selection Board held mid-November of each year. Match results are typically published mid-December.

Application Instructions

The application deadline for residency is August 31. Applicants will complete the application online using the MODS website. In addition, applicants will need to include a number of items with their application packet. These supplemental items are due by October 15. These items include: medical school transcript, step 1 and 2 results, letters of recommendation, height and weight and Army Combat Fitness test (ACFT) verification, and Dean's letter.

Interviews

Interviews can be requested in person and virtually. Please contact our program coordinator, or medical student director to schedule.

Program graduates take the American Board of Family Medicine exam. This exam is offered bi-annually. To become fully board certified, applicants are eligible to take board certification exam prior to graduation. To be eligible to take specialty board exams, graduates must complete all pre-requisites required by the American Board of Family Medicine prior to scheduling by December 31st.

There are four components of Family Medicine Certification, which include the following:

• Professionalism: Evidence of professional standing and licensure
• Self-Assessment & Lifelong Learning: Evidence of a commitment to lifelong continuous learning and involvement in a periodic self-assessment proces
• Cognitive Expertise: Evidence of current knowledge through testing
• Performance Improvement: Evidence of participation in quality improvement activities in practice

ABFM provides you with an individual MyABFM Portfolio to access the required activities for your initial entry into the certification process, as well as track your ongoing process toward continuous certification over your practice lifetime. You will have access to your MyABFM Portfolio to utilize these tools after your residency program has entered your information into the Resident Training Management (RTM) system.

The examination for residents seeking initial certification is administered in April and November each year. If you expect to complete training by June 30, you will automatically be provided the application link for the April examination. If you will complete your training between July 1 and October 31, you may be eligible to apply for the April examination based on a recommendation from your residency program director. This will need to be submitted through the RTM system. If you expect to complete your residency training between November 1 and December 31, you will be permitted to apply for the November exam. If you will complete your training between January 1 and April 30, you may be eligible to apply for the November examination based on a recommendation from your residency program director. This will need to be submitted through the RTM system.

The Resident Certification Entry requirements you will need to complete before receiving your initial board certification are as follows:

The completion of self-assessment and quality improvement activities totaling a minimum of 50 points, achieved through at least one of the following:

• ABFM-developed Knowledge Self-Assessment Activities: Knowledge Self-Assessment (KSA) Continuous Knowledge Self-Assessment (CKSA)
• At least one Performance Improvement (PI) activity, utilizing data from your patient population
• Additional activities to reach a minimum of 50 activity points. These can be accomplished in various ways, including, but not limited to:
  • Additional ABFM-developed Knowledge Self-Assessment (KSA)
  • Additional participation with Continuous Knowledge Self-Assessment (CKSA)
  • Approved Alternative Self-Assessment activities Performance Improvement (PI) activities
  • Continuous compliance with ABFM Guidelines for Professionalism, Licensure, and Personal Conduct which includes holding medical license(s) which meet the licensure requirements of the Guidelines
  • Successful completion of the Family Medicine Certification Examination
  • Successful completion of family medicine residency training and verification of this by your residency program. Your program can complete this verification through ABFM's Residency Training Management (RTM) system

All applicants for the Family Medicine Certification Examination are subject to the approval of the Board, and the final decision regarding any application rests solely with ABFM. To be eligible to take the examination, certification requirements will need to be satisfactorily met and your exam fees paid in full. It is not required that the physician have a medical license on file prior to taking the exam; however, certification will not be granted until you hold medical license(s) which meet the requirements of the ABFM Guidelines for Professionalism, Licensure, and Personal Conduct. Additional details may be found on the ABFM website.

Residents receive formal teacher training at the beginning of each academic year through our medical student coordinator. They have many opportunities to teach medical students and junior residents throughout training. They also have the opportunity to apply for the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Faculty Development Rotation, which is a funded elective.

Residents also have opportunities to teach Interservice Physician Assistant Program (IPAP) students and medics. We are working on developing a partnership to offer our residents the opportunity to teach Osteopathic Manipulation Therapy to local medical students as well.

We have faculty trained in a diversity of Army Fellowships including Faculty Development, Hospitalist Medicine, Obstetrics, and Sports Medicine.

Mentorship and Sponsorship are key components to leader professional development in military medicine. While there is not a formalized curriculum for mentorship and sponsorship, the program prioritizes developing faculty within both academic and military medicine environments and pulls from our broad and extensive operational and academic medicine experiences to do so. Our goal is to help faculty identify areas of interest for career progression and help develop the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes to succeed as military medical officers.

The Womack Army Medical Center has a Wellness Support Pathway. In addition, the Womack Family Medicine program and institution educates residents and faculty members on the professional responsibilities of physicians to appear for duty appropriately rested and fit to provide services required by their patients. The program is committed to promoting patient safety and resident well-being in a supportive educational environment.

Access to Food

Trainees have access to food via the hospital Dining Facility, which is open around the traditional day‐time hours for breakfast, lunch and dinner. A ‘Grab‐n‐Go’ option is also available between meals along with a robust selection of vending machines.

Sleep Facilities

Trainees have dedicated, locked, badge‐accessible call room facilities, which are proximate to clinical care sites on 4S and 3N in the Mother Baby Unit lactation area.

Lactation Facilities

There are dedicated lactation rooms on the mother baby unit and in the Family Medicine Residency Clinic. There is a fridge dedication to breast milk storage in the FMRC staff lounge.

Security and Safety

Womack Army Medical Center is located on Fort Liberty, a military installation with controlled access, which is limited to personnel who have a valid Department of Defense identification card. Within the hospital, access to clinical sites is controlled by badge‐access, with access limited based on provider type and scope of practice. There is 24/7 on site presence of security personnel. The GME Ombudsman, is available to trainees and faculty who, as a conduit to raise safety concerns and direct them to the appropriate hospital committee.

Accommodations for Residents with Disabilities

Womack Army Medical Center is committed to providing an accessible educational experience to trainees who may also have injuries or disabilities. In general, because our trainees are active duty service members, this situation is rarely encountered.

Medical Care

There is sick call starting at 6:30 a.m. in the Family Medicine Residency Clinic. If you will be going to sick call and anticipate being home on quarters, you must call the provider call-out line at 910-907-7005 prior to 6:30 a.m.. You must also notify either the Program Director or Associate Program Director.

Psychological Support

Support services available to trainees are outlined in the ‘Wellness Support Pathways’ outlined below. Self‐care resources are introduced in Intern Orientation and updated annually. This past academic year, we have secured a dedicated Behavioral Health provider who serves as a point of contact to facilitate rapid and confidential entry into the Behavioral Health System. Womack also has an Impaired Healthcare Provider Program to support healthcare providers whose patient care is at risk of being affected by a medical issue.