Summa Western Reserve Hospital Internal Medicine Residency Training Program follows the standards as established by the American College of Osteopathic Internists (ACOI) and approved by the American Osteopathic Association. These standards are designed to provide the osteopathic resident with advanced and concentrated training in Internal Medicine and to prepare the resident for examination for certification in Internal Medicine.

The specialty of Internal Medicine consists of the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of all diseases of the body with emphasis on internal organs of the body in the adolescent and adult patient including the subspecialties of Internal Medicine. With the creation of alternate tracks, residents entering the residency in Internal Medicine may elect either: (a) the traditional hospital based or subspecialty directed track or (b) the primary care ambulatory based track. The purposes of an osteopathic Internal Medicine training program are to provide a wide spectrum of educational exposures and experiences in clinic and hospital settings to enable the resident, upon completion of the program, to be fully competent to practice Internal medicine in the hospital and ambulatory setting. Integration of osteopathic principles and practice shall be an integral part of the program.

The residency-training program in Internal Medicine will be three years in duration. The training will consist of three years of general Internal Medicine, the first year of which may be an AOA-approved specialty track internship with concentration in Internal Medicine and its sub-specialties or three years of general Internal Medicine. An additional option of two years of general Internal Medicine and one year of training in a subspecialty of Internal Medicine is also available.

The education content of the program will include the neuromuscular component of disease and the osteopathic concept of evaluating and treating the whole patient in inpatient care and ambulatory settings.

It will also include the development of basic cognitive skills and knowledge as pertaining to normal physiology and pathophysiology of the body systems and the correlating clinical applications of medical diagnosis and management.

Residents will gain sufficient experience and training in the following procedures and development of respective interpretation skills. Verification by the program director of experience and competency in required procedures is necessary.

Affective content will be included with regard to psychosocial and behavioral aspects involved in the interaction between the patient and physician, the patient and his/her environment, and the patient and related health problems. The program will encourage the resident to understand the contingencies of health and illness and the development of a mature concern regarding human interrelations and concern for quality patient care. The resident will be encouraged to develop community and intra-professional relationships.

Elective training may be included and can be offered as inpatient or ambulatory experience in general medicine, medical subspecialty, or certain non-medical specialties. All elective training must be approved by the program director.

The program will provide suitable arrangements as needed for outside rotations to ensure the complete education of the resident and for broadening the scope of training.

At least 24 months of training will include meaningful patient responsibility and no more than six months of training will be assigned in non-internal medicine services.