LOMA LINDA UNIVERSITY FAMILY MEDICINE RESIDENCY
COMBINED TRAINING IN
FAMILY AND PREVENTIVE MEDICINE
INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS
BACKGROUND
Loma Linda Family Medicine Residency is uniquely positioned to lead into the Future of
Family Medicine with an innovative approach to residency training. We are located
within the campus of Loma Linda University and LLU Medical Center, which are
founded on the principals of bringing wholeness and hope to those who are suffering. Our
residency embodies the institutional mission to enhance medical education, deliver
excellent whole-person patient care, and maximize health and wellness by utilizing
natural principals of wholeness and healing in an environment of cutting-edge science
and research. The excellent resources of our academic health science center provide us
with an exceptional environment for creative collaboration and outreach in ministry,
social sciences, medical science, and public health.
Although medical education has continued to revolve around the acute illness model, it is
clear that this model is not well suited to train doctors to serve those who suffer from
chronic illness. Because the departments of Family and Preventive Medicine at LLU
naturally espouse the tenets of chronic disease prevention and management, we have
proposed a solution to this gap in training.
PROGRAM AND TRACK CHOICES
We have developed and achieved approval for the only four-year longitudinally
integrated combined training program that will produce physicians who are double-board
eligible in Preventive Medicine and Family Medicine and who also complete a Masters in
Public Health. This training occurs over a four year time period, and would include the
required 36 months of training in Family Medicine as well as the required training in
Preventive Medicine.
We offer two tracks of training. First, a Lifestyle Medicine track would apply the
principals of whole person care to nutrition, exercise, emotional, relational, and spiritual
wellness to deliver exceptional chronic disease management. Emphasis is placed on an
outpatient, community-oriented, technology-rich approach to promoting health. The
MPH focus would be on community health and epidemiology.
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Our second track is in Global Medicine. Emphasis is on inpatient and outpatient care,
procedural competency, cross-cultural medicine, and international/tropical medicine to
prepare residents to operate in an environment of scarce medical resources. MPH focus
would be on global medicine. Additional rotation time would be devoted to patient care
in remote and overseas locations. Moreover, our unique arrangement with our GME
office provides salary for residents doing international mission electives.
PROGRAM DIRECTOR:
Wayne Dysinger, Preventive Medicine Department Chair, is the program director. Dr.
Dysinger brings the additional expertise of having published an article about his
experience initiating the combined FM-PM program at Dartmouth. He is assisted by the
two current programs directors in Preventive Medicine and Family Medicine residency
programs.
CURRICULUM AND BOARD CERTIFICATION:
Please see the attached block diagram of each year’s curriculum. We have received
approval from both boards to permit the 36 required months of Family Medicine training
to occur over a four-year period. Board eligibility and certification examination would
occur upon completion the fourth year.
MPH TUITION AND CURRICULUM
To facilitate the completion of on-line MPH courses, which are offered on a quarterly
schedule, some Family Medicine rotations have been modified to permit more time for
on-line work and reading. Because our university offers an annual tuition benefit to all
employees, 40 hours of the approximate 56-60 hours of the MPH are completed FREE!
LEADING INTO THE FUTURE OF FAMILY MEDICINE
We feel that this proposal uniquely meets all ten of the recommendations of the Future of
Family Medicine Project.
1. New Model Practice. This is the first program to specifically develop a training
model to address the “basket of services” needed for chronic disease care. It
enhances delivery of care to those whose status globally is deplorably inadequate
in the old model of health care. It also permits a longer time frame for the resident
to develop the continuous healing relationship-based personal medical home for
his/her patients.
2. Electronic Health Records. The department of Family Medicine is the lead agent
for implementing the full EHR at Loma Linda in 2006. The Lifestyle Medicine
track will rely heavily on electronic technology such as databases and patient
registries to develop quality programs to enhance disease management.
3. Education. We have positioned ourselves to lead out in this 10-year period of
active experimentation with this innovation in family medicine education which
uniquely prepares residents for the real challenges of 21st century practice.
4. Lifelong Learning. This program is steeped in lifelong learning as the residents
focus on practice-based improvements, quality improvement, and outcomes-based
terventions. They will conduct original research for their MPH. They will be
facile at long-distance learning methods used in the MPH and field training.
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5. Enhancing the Science. Because this collaborative academic endeavor
accomplishes gains in both medical science and patient care that neither specialty
can achieve alone, we will generate and disseminate new scientific information
which is currently unavailable in any other venue.
6. Quality. This training prepares residents to address the quality chasms in chronic
disease care. It also addresses global disparities in healthcare.
7. Academic Health Centers. We have done phenomenal work at Loma Linda to
establish ourselves in a position of influence and status. We have influenced the
School of Medicine, which now (among allopathic schools) boasts the highest
percentage of medical students entering Family Medicine in the state. The Family
Medicine Department Chair is the chief of medical staff at our world-renowned
University Medical Center. This combined program collaboration further
enhances the status of Family Medicine in the LLU academic health center,
because it uniquely fulfills the stated institutional mission. Because of our
commitment to innovations in this area, we are enjoying the supportive attention
of the deans, the chancellor, and the president of the university.
8. Student Interest. In 2005, this program attracted 5 highly competitive Loma Linda
SOM students and helped us reestablish a healthy balance of IMG and USMG
residents. We expect the program to be very competitive nation-wide as well
9. Communication. This program provides an opportunity to pioneer and
communicate “best practices” in chronic disease residency training.
10. Leadership and Advocacy. This program provides a unique pipe-line for those
physician advocates and policy-makers who want to be a voice for patients both
here and globally who are in desperate need of access to quality health care.
We believe that this innovative program is occurring at the best possible time in the best
possible setting. We are thrilled to lead Loma Linda University and the nation into the
Future of Family Medicine in a unique way!
APPLICATION PROCESS:
Interested applicants must apply through ERAS using the combined program number.
Each applicant will be interviewed by both programs, who collaborate in a joint ranking
process. First consideration will be given to competitive applicants with demonstration of
a compatible fit to the mission of LLU FMR (“Called to excellence, compassion, and
wholeness”) and to the combined program.
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