About the Program

The People

The residents are talented, cohesive, hard-working and supportive of each other. The faculty are experienced internists who love to teach, supported by outstanding subspecialty faculty. Our support staff enjoy working here, especially with residents. 

Our program has a complement of 27 residents in AY 2023-24, 30 residents in AY 2024-25, and 33 residents in AY 2025-26, and is a categorical three-year, 4+1 IM Residency Training Program leading to certification by the American Board of Internal Medicine.
 

Expect to truly enjoy working with the people around you.

Our Philosophy

Challenge and support. Residents are placed in challenging clinical settings requiring ever increasing responsibilities. We encourage resident autonomy in patient care, but are with you every step of the way. Your patients will be your best teachers, but we all need help sometimes and our faculty are some of the best in the business. Just ask our residents. The clinical care provided by our graduates is relationship-centered, compassionate, respectful and grounded in a broad base of knowledge that is constantly updated with current literature. Transparency and wellness are not only 'words' for us. Overall, we do have lots of fun with beautiful retreats and, celebrations often at different faculty homes. We essentially want you to grow as a physician and as a human being!

Expect to grow professionally in ways that amaze you.
 

Respect

Internal medicine is highly respected in our hospital and in our community. In all settings we expect our residents to be respectful of others regardless of their station in life. Respect your patients, their families, nurses and the entire health care team, and the teachers who volunteer their time. Respect learning, the profession of medicine, and the discipline of Internal Medicine and you will receive respect back in overflowing measure.

Expect to learn in a collegial atmosphere.
 

The Curriculum 

The IM Program has been carefully planned to fulfill the requirements of the Internal Medicine Curriculum Residency Review Committee (RRC) of the ACGME. The curriculum offers a broad and balanced experience in both ambulatory and inpatient settings that prepare the graduate for a career in general internal medicine, either primary care, hospital medicine or to continue training in a subspecialty. By the end of the three-year program, graduating residents leave as skilled and confident practitioners in the care and treatment of major acute and chronic diseases.

Full-time faculty is assigned to you and conducts daily rounds on admitted patients and supervises residents in the ambulatory clinic and the hospital. The faculty provides oversight in patient care, but also will allow autonomy as appropriate.  Residents are responsible for the work-up of patients, for writing orders, and for performing diagnostic procedures and therapy.  Additionally, there are daily conferences and teaching rounds in the various medical subspecialties.  The collaboration between FSU and TMH provides a foundation for transformational learning and allows residents to have innovative and inspirational experiences.  Since we are a smaller program, you receive full attention from the faculty.

Addiction Medicine, Motivational Interviewing, and Hospice/Palliative Care

We provide robust teaching in addiction medicine, with three faculty members and our PD having received formal education on addiction screening and treatment through the Chief Resident Immersion Training Program for Addiction Medicine sponsored by the Boston University Medical Center’s Department of Addiction Medicine. Residents will receive an introduction to Motivational Interviewing during their orientation and a lecture series through the year on Addiction Medicine topics, including:

  1. Overview of Substance Use Disorders
  2. Multimodal Pain Treatment
  3. Screening Tools in Addiction Medicine
  4. Alcohol Use Disorder and Withdrawal
  5. Opioid Use Disorder and Withdrawal
  6. Addiction Disorders Including Stimulants and Psychoactive Drugs

There will also be additional Motivational Interviewing sessions throughout the academic year for skills to be enhanced.During year two or three you will have a special rotation with the geriatric department where you will be going to the “Big Bend Hospice House” to gain some direct insights. You always have the option to elect a palliative care elective, too.

Geriatrics

By 2060, one in 4 persons in the United States will be 65 or older. The FSU Internal Medicine Residency Program recognizes this changing demographic landscape and has embraced it using several strategies. Throughout the academic year, residents attend dynamic lectures given by core Faculty and by senior residents. All residents, including interns, are taught how to perform comprehensive geriatric assessments and how to identify and manage important geriatric syndromes. As a bonus, PGY 3 residents perform supervised geriatric assessments with Dr. Rodgers in their ambulatory personal clinic. Residents learn how to care for seniors across a wide range of locations including: home, assisted living, long term care and rehabilitation centers. They complete a structured 3-week Geriatric rotation in conjunction with the Geriatric Department at Florida State University. If you are excited about learning about aging physiology, the latest advancements in dementia, and managing the next growing patient population, then our Tallahassee IMRP is FOR YOU!

Point of Care Ultrasound

Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is growing in both inpatient and outpatient settings as a diagnostic tool. Our aim is to teach POCUS through a three-tiered curriculum following the continuum of education during residency:

  1. Build foundational knowledge of the technology using SonoSim applications
  2. Evolve this knowledge into application within clinical work at the bedside using our stock of POCUS Butterfly probes and tablets
  3. Provide a track toward proficiency in POCUS to the residents by completion of postgraduate training through the development of their individual POCUS image portfolio.
  4. And, if wanted, able to reach the level of proficiency which will give you a “Certificate of POCUS Skills Achievement”.

The tools to perform this are through core faculty development using the Society of Hospital Medicine’s (SMH) POCUS certification program, providing training for residents with SonoSim modules and cases with built-in knowledge assessments, and maintenance and subscription to the Butterfly IQ ecosystem.

“Certificate of POCUS Skills Achievement” would only be taught to interested residents by faculty trained through SMH’s program, who will evaluate resident portfolios for quality and completion.

Quality Improvement:

The FSU-Internal Medicine Residency at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (FSU-IMR at TMH) has a robust and comprehensive quality improvement (QI) curriculum. Using the principles of the DMAIC model, residents design and implement quality improvement projects either in the inpatient or outpatient FSU-IMR clinic. As part of the QI curriculum, residents learn about basic statistics and how to incorporate that into their project.

Each resident is expected to complete two QI projects, with one of those as a team leader. Examples of past QI projects: Outpatient antibiotic stewardship, De-labelling penicillin allergy, Increasing utilization of pulmonary function tests, and Crash cart.  Are we ready?

Scholarly Activities:

The FSU-Internal Medicine Residency at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (FSU-IMR at TMH) offers multiple opportunities for scholarly activities. TMH has been involved in multiple COVID clinical trials. Most recently, TMH and FSU-IMR residents have been involved in the ACTIV-6 trial, which looks at repurposing drugs such as Fluvoxamine in the fight against COVID.

In addition to the clinic trial, residents engage in scholarly activity ranging from presentations to poster submissions.  The poster presentations are a great opportunity for residents to highlight the rare and interesting cases encountered during their rotations at TMH.  A recent poster titled “An Atypical Case of Twiddler’s Syndrome” won first place at the Florida Medical Association.

FSU and the University of Florida have partnered to provide the opportunity to receive guidance, training and support to scholars interested in research. This virtual program provides guidance on grant applications as well as how to write and submit scholarly work.

Expect to leave here exceptionally well trained.

Our hospital

We have a large hospital with close to 800 beds (average daily census 425 in acute care) which can provide almost all services a patient may need. We draw from surrounding rural areas and the range of pathology is amazing. TMH is a private not-for-profit hospital, thus all profits are invested back into the organization for improvements, or shared with employees (including residents) in the form of a variable monetary payment in December. Our Subspecialists are outstanding and very willing to teach; nurses are excellent and supportive of residency training. TMH’s mission, to provide care to all in need regardless of status, is our mission as well.

Expect to feel part of a vital, compassionate hospital team.
 

Accreditation

We are in our 11th year now and enjoying continued accreditation with Commendation, the highest status attainable.  The program is in full compliance with ACGME work hour regulations averaging in the low to middle 50th hours. To help maintain patient safety and resident wellbeing, we strictly monitor the clinical experience hour regulations. The program follows a soft cap of 14 patients per team consisting of 2 interns and 1 senior with medical students. Our hard cap is 16 patients per team because we believe that teaching and learning need time to do so.

Expect to graduate from a highly accredited program.
 

Financial Support and Outreach

Both the program and our parent hospital (TMH) are in excellent financial health. TMH recognizes the great value of the residency to its mission and to our city.  The FSU-Internal Medicine Residency at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (FSU-IMR at TMH) continues participating in community engagement. Tallahassee is considered an underserved area. Additionally, there is a large migrant farm working community. FSU-IMR residents engage in providing basic health care and education to this community at the annual Quincy Migrant Fair.

Additionally, FSU-IMR residency, in conjunction with the FSU College of Medicine travel to Immokalee, Florida to provide medical care to the migrant farm working community there. These outreach opportunities provide the residents with the opportunity to engage meaningfully with the community members.

Expect to feel the support and pride of TMH/Tallahassee.


Opportunities to Practice

Multiple opportunities arise each year in our beautiful city and surrounding areas. As an internist you will be in high demand. In recent years our graduates have entered into the fields of primary care, hospital medicine, or have moved on to fellowships.

Expect to be in high demand, with plenty to choose from.
 

Tallahassee, FL

It's southern, yet cosmopolitan; greater Tallahassee has approximately 250,000 people; Florida’s capital city; home to two large universities (FSU and FAMU) and a large community college (TCC).  All who visit, as well as those who live here, are struck with the natural beauty of the rolling hills, abundant Spanish moss-covered trees, with canopy roads. It is ECO friendly, safe, low traffic volume, and boasts the nation’s leading parks and recreation department. The residents of Tallahassee tend to be highly educated, value education, and enjoy excellent schools, both public and private. As expected in a university town, there are abundant offerings in the performing arts, entertainment and big-time college sports. The downtown area is alive, thriving, and welcomes foodies of all tastes.  Check out the Cascades Park for a variety of outdoor events. Want more outdoor amazement?  Then Wakulla Springs, the world’s largest freshwater spring, along with several other crystal-clear spring fed rivers, are waiting for you. Saltwater fishing is 45 minutes away, and some of the most beautiful beaches in the world (St. George Island, Cape San Blas, Destin, Ft. Walton Beach) stretch to the west and as close as 90 minutes away. Tallahassee is a great place to raise a family, and many residents who train here find that they want to stay; you will, too!

Expect to fall in love with Tallahassee and the area.