|
|
|
|
Hello! The residents at the Caldwell Rural Training Track are happy to answer any questions that students may have about our program. Feel free to email us at any time.
|
|
|
 KimberlyElliott, D.O., Ph.D.
Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine Kimberly.Elliott@fmridaho.org Welcome to the Caldwell Rural Training Track! As a second year family medicine resident, I am happy to share my experience with you. The Family Medicine Residency of Idaho enables you to develop a strong background in family medicine in Boise during your internship year, which prepares you for your upcoming rural experience. The Rural Training Track presents many unique opportunities for resident training. The faculty and physicians at West Valley Medical Center (WVMC) allow you to manage patients independently, but they are always available for guidance and teaching. You have the ability to tailor particular interests, such as practicing endoscopic techniques or refining your obstetrical skills. Your experience at WVMC truly encompasses an ideal family medicine experience with a diverse blend of outpatient medicine and a strong core inpatient service.
I love the hospital and clinic staff. They are very supportive and excited to work with the residents. The family medicine attending physicians have excellent backgrounds and they are enthusiastic teachers to help prepare you for your future in family medicine. You also have the opportunity to work in all specialties ranging from anesthesiology, OB/GYN, cardiology, urology, neurology and surgery to name a few. The specialists are always willing to have residents involved in their cases and spend extra time and effort to provide didactics and to oversee procedures. You work as part of a team at WVMC providing excellent care to optimize your patient’s health care experience. The Caldwell Rural Training Track is an exceptional program where your foundation in family medicine is strengthened and nurtured to shape your future as a well-rounded physician.
Caldwell is a quiet town that provides some of the finer points of rural life. You are able to pursue outdoor interests and make time for a family life. Wineries and a variety of orchards in the Sunnyslope area near Marsing provide a wonderful area for walking or a weekend break as you shop for fresh produce. The local YMCA is an excellent facility with a variety of cardio equipment, swimming pool and fitness classes that allow you to focus on your health and wellness. The Caldwell Rural Training Track will enable you to develop an excellent foundation in family medicine while having the time to focus on your family and health. Come visit us in Caldwell to find out how you can join our team to practice excellent medicine while maintaining a well-rounded life outside of the hospital. We would love to meet you and look forward to sharing our Caldwell experiences with you! | |  Drew Polson, M.D.
Texas Tech
University School of Medicine Drew.Polson@fmridaho.org
Being raised in rural Colorado, I wanted a program that had the luxury of living in a smaller community with the benefits of academic medicine – and Caldwell is my ideal place to be. After completing my internship with the Family Medicine Residency of Idaho in Boise, I started my first rotation in Caldwell in the Emergency Department. The very first patient I saw that day was an employee at West Valley Medical Center. It was an honor and privilege to take care of my co-worker that day, and since then I have had multiple opportunities to care for my co-workers. The atmosphere here is truly one of a large family where much of the faculty and staff will go the extra mile for me and the other residents here. No matter what rotation you are doing, faculty will seek you out to show you something unique and educational. This allows me to experience the full scope of family medicine. I have spoken with many previous graduates from this program that practice here or far away and I hear the same message of “excellent training and no regrets” and I reiterate that message now. I feel honored and blessed to be part of the Caldwell Rural Training Track of the Family Medicine Residency of Idaho. As I continue through my education as a second-year resident, I feel that I will be well prepared for my third year of residency and future opportunities.
The people in the community are great. My wife, Autumn, and two sons, Cade and Jake, are able to participate in multiple activities and have found life-long friends. The community here is wonderful; camping, skiing, mountain biking, fishing and hunting are just a short drive away. Recently, I was able to take my older son and go camping with my brother and his two sons. It was a great time for us to camp and fish in the Sawtooth Mountain Range. This is one example of the balanced life that the RRT affords us here in Caldwell. I couldn't be happier with my choice. |
|
|
|
 J'Cinda Bitters, M.D.
University of Texas
Medical Branch School
of Medicine at Galveston JCinda.@fmridaho.org If I could have written the curriculum of a family medicine training program, the Caldwell rural track would be what I would have designed. I looked for family medicine residencies with strong procedural training, particularly in the area of EGDs and colonoscopies. There are ample opportunities to get well over 100 endoscopic procedures in your two years of training in Caldwell, as well as the chance for IUD insertions, joint injections, deliveries, circumcisions, central lines, intubations...the possibilities are endless! Yet I do not miss out on non-procedural patient care as well since we have busy clinics and inpatient services. In addition, the smaller hospital environment provides a closer knit feel amongst the other physicians and the staff that makes the long hours of residency much more bearable. I do enjoy the fact that I can be home to have dinner with my husband and daughter if I have a spare hour when I am on call. It makes the fact that we never have a non-call month (which is what private practice will really be like) much more bearable.
I came to Idaho from my native Texas because of all the wonderful outdoor activities and temperate climate this state provides. Whether hiking, skiing, kayaking, attending the outdoor Shakespeare festival, camping, or simply enjoying the weather and the mountains in view on the back porch, Idaho has so much to offer. And with such a need for primary care physicians in this state, I plan to stay in Idaho after graduation.
I appreciated the traditional residency year in Boise to prepare us for the autonomy of Caldwell. I made close relationships in my residency class in Boise, and though I was sad to leave them for day to day activities, we still manage to get together frequently. I am so happy to be where I am, and hope that you will check us out! | |  Jonathan Griffin, M.D.
University of Washington School of Medicine Jonathan.Griffin@fmridaho.org
Congratulations for considering Caldwell as an option for rural residency training in family medicine. If you want a vigorous, incredibly broad residency experience, you are looking in the right place.
The complexity, variety and volume of patients we see in both the clinic and the hospital really stand out to me as an advantage of the Caldwell residency. In my first clinic as a second year in Caldwell, Mr. S presented after having a couple months of weight loss and night sweats followed by cough and fevers and I soon thereafter admitted him to the hospital with what turned out to be culture negative tuberculosis and a fungal empyema. While rounding on Mr. S the next day in the hospital, I was called down the hall for a newborn resuscitation where I was able to intubate the baby and place an umbilical venous catheter. This was in my first couple of days. During that first week, I was shocked at all that was available for me to learn and experience. Residents routinely do things here that would be shuffled to specialists in most other family medicine residencies. In any given day on a medicine rotation, we residents could be intubating patients and placing central lines in the ICU, delivering babies, doing EGDs and colonoscopies, managing complicated cardiac or stroke patients, doing medical clearance for psychiatric inpatients, and managing a huge variety of acute, chronic, and OB medical issues in the clinic. We are all over the place here! And the residents in the Caldwell track notoriously see significantly higher volumes of patients than do other family medicine residents. Here in Caldwell, we truly do learn about and experience what it takes to succeed in the real world of rural clinical and hospital medicine.
And the people here are great. We have we have lots of very accomplished attendings as well as fresh out of residency attendings on the faculty who are always available for questions and assistance. Each have different philosophies and techniques in their practice, which creates rich learning environment where we are able to try different approaches and see what works best for us. We also work very closely with a wide range of specialists who are great to provide as much teaching as we choose to seek out. In fact, I’ve just strolled over to their clinics from the hospital for quick questions and I’ve always been well received. The nurses and other staff are excellent as well. I have gotten to know my colleagues here in Caldwell much better than I have at any other location in my training, which is yet another huge advantage of the Caldwell track in my mind.
Another exciting feature of the Caldwell residency for me is that we residents have many opportunities to get involved with systems and operational aspects of the clinic. Within this very large, high volume clinic with lots of providers, we are now engaged in a clinic-wide project aimed at incorporating LEAN quality improvement techniques. There are ongoing efforts to implement elements of the patient-centered medical home into our practice. And there are also plans in the works to transition to electronic health records. These are all very substantial endeavors that will undoubtedly be disruptive and we residents have every opportunity to get involved as agents of change. I believe these projects are another advantage of this program in that we are able to learn about and experience these business and administrative aspects of health care that will be crucial as we move forward in our careers. This is the real world here and we as residents have wide open opportunities to get as involved as we want.
I truly love being here in Caldwell. I do work hard, but the experience I am gaining is irreplaceable. Many have said that once finished with residency in this program, graduates are prepared to go anywhere and function with a very high level of competency and efficiency. I know I’m being trained to succeed and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I believe that you would be well advised to take a close look at this rural training track.
|
|
|
|
|
|