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 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 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 conduct 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 Florida State University (FSU) and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) provides a foundation for transformational learning and allows residents to have innovative and inspirational experiences. Since we are a smaller program, you will receive full attention from the faculty.
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 4-week Geriatric rotation in conjunction with the Geriatric Department at Florida State University. 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. 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:
- Build foundational knowledge of the technology using SonoSim applications
- Evolve this knowledge into application within clinical work at the bedside using our stock of POCUS Butterfly probes and tablets
- Provide a track toward proficiency in POCUS to the residents by completion of postgraduate training through the development of their individual POCUS image portfolio.
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.
Quality Improvement:
The FSU-Internal Medicine Residency at TMH has a robust and comprehensive quality improvement (QI) curriculum. 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 a QI project throughout their residency. 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 TMH offers multiple opportunities for scholarly activities. TMH has been involved in multiple COVID clinical trials.
In addition to clinic trials, 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 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 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 16 patients per team consisting of 2 interns and 1 senior with medical students. Our hard cap is 20 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
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 Pulmonology and Critical Care, Endocrinology, Primary Care, or Hospital Medicine.
Expect to be in high demand, with plenty to choose from.