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A Day in the Hospital Life

Internal medicine residency at SLU is premised on the idea that medicine is best learned at the bedside with active reflection and feedback to hone performance.

Our residents have roughly two-thirds of their rotations at our main teaching hospital, SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital, and one-third at VA Saint Louis Health Care System - John Cochran Division.

A typical day looks like this:

  • 7 a.m.: Night float team signs out existing patients to primary day teams
  • 8 a.m.: Night float team presents new patients to primary day teams and attendings; opportunity for feedback on management overnight
  • 9 to 11:30 a.m.: Teaching rounds with attending
  • 11:30 a.m. to noon: Complete urgent tasks, begin work on daily tasks
  • Noon to 1 p.m.: Noon conference
  • 1 to 5 p.m.: Complete daily clinical tasks and notes; informal teaching by attending and/or senior resident; 5 p.m. sign-out to on-call medical team
  • 5 to 7 p.m.: On-call medical team cross-covers other teaching teams
  • 7 p.m.: Day team signs out to night float team, which receives admissions and cross-covers overnight

Clinics

In continuity clinics, residents experience continuity by functioning as their patient's primary care physicians, and by being paired with and mentored by attending physicians. 

Residents will also have additional clinical training experiences. These include:

  • A bridge clinic, where they'll see patients within two weeks of discharge
  • A metabolic clinic, where they'll work with the gastroenterology department to care for patients
  • struggling with autoimmune and liver disorders, and weight loss
  • Subspeciality clinics, where they'll have assigned and elective experiences

Academic Teams

Gold Team

This team primarily admits new patients, helps provide admission feedback, and reduces the burden of new admissions for other academic teams.

On-Call Team

This team admits approximately two to four patients each day, which prevents them from staying up too late and being overburdened by clinical responsibilities. 

Diamond Team

This team experiences what it's like to practice as hospitalists. Residents work with attendings and an APP to manage patients more independently. 

Night Float

This team presents patients to the hospital nocturnist and receives real-time overnight teaching and feedback. 

Additional Highlights

  • All teams have a 14 patient cap, which keeps workloads manageable and protects teaching time. 
  • When the hospital is full, there is a Surge Team that provides additional help; this team also serves as a moonlighting opportunity for residents.
  • There are opportunities to rotate on consult services and subspecialty outpatient clinics.
  • There are tracks in hospital medicine, primary care and medical education.