Under the supervision and mentorship of expert faculty, residents experience diverse clinical training in our four unique hospitals: Ben Taub General Hospital (Houston’s county hospital), the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center (a flagship VA hospital), Baylor-St. Luke's Medical Center, and MD Anderson Cancer Center. Residents have continuity clinic at Smith Clinic (part of the county safety net system affiliated with Ben Taub Hospital), the VA, and the Baylor McNair Campus. They also rotate through ambulatory experiences at the hospitals and clinics.
Sample Yearly Rotation Schedule for Categorical Residents
PGY 1
- Wards (BT, VA, and/or MDACC): 16 weeks
- Ambulatory (primary care or subspecialty): 8-12 weeks
- Inpatient subspecialty electives: 12-16 weeks
- Night Float: 4 weeks
- MICU: 4 weeks
- CCU: 4 weeks
- ER: 4 weeks
- Vacation: 3 weeks
PGY 2
- Inpatient general medicine (BT, VA, MDACC, or BSLMC): 12 weeks (including some night float admitting weeks)
- Ambulatory (primary care or subspecialty): 12-16 weeks
- Inpatient subspecialty: 16 weeks
- ICU Night Float: 2 weeks
- Geriatrics (either PGY2 or PGY3): 4 weeks
- Neurology (either PGY2 or PGY3): 4 weeks
- Vacation: 3 weeks + 4-day personal holiday
PGY 3
- Inpatient general medicine (BT, VA, MDACC, or BSLMC): 8-12 weeks (including some night float admitting weeks)
- Ambulatory (primary care or subspecialty): 12-16 weeks
- Inpatient subspecialty: 16 weeks
- MICU: 8 weeks
- General Medicine Consult: 4 weeks
- Geriatrics (either PGY2 or PGY3): 4 weeks
- Neurology (either PGY2 or PGY3): 4 weeks
- Vacation: 3 weeks + 4-day personal holiday
Starting in the 2022-2023 academic year, we have restructured our intern year experience to allow for more balance between inpatient acute care rotations and subspecialty and outpatient rotations. The number of weeks on inpatient general medicine has been reduced slightly to allow for increased outpatient and inpatient elective opportunities. Based on feedback from our upper-level residents, we have also modified all inpatient acute care rotations to include night float evening coverage as opposed to 24-hour calls.
Schedule
Our schedule system is the Baylor 4+4, which consists of thirteen 4-week blocks during the academic year. We alternate between four weeks on a Blue rotation (primarily consisting of wards and ICU) followed by four weeks of a Gold block. Gold blocks can consist of four weeks on a subspecialty rotation or two 2-week ambulatory rotations. All continuity clinics fall on Gold blocks, allowing us to preserve the continuity of the inpatient experience on rotations such as ICU or wards. All residents also rotate at the same time, allowing us to maintain a large call pool for flexibility.
Resident schedules are online on Qgenda. Individual schedules can be easily visualized online or in an app. The scheduler also allows for real-time schedule changes.
