The Wayne State University Internal Medicine Program gives special emphasis to the didactic curriculum. We highlight the importance of this protected learning time as an vital aspect of residency training. Residents and faculty actively participate in all sessions and emphasis is placed on innovative discussions. Resident didactics and conferences are held daily between 11:00 a.m.- 1:00 p.m. Didactic scheduling is done by the Academic Chief Resident in conjunction with the Program Director at the beginning of the rotation block. The calendar is available below.

Resident Didactics

Morning Reports

"Morning reports" are scheduled at least twice a week. A patient who was admitted and managed by the intern-senior team is presented by the intern with the senior resident supervising the presentation. The senior resident concludes the case by asking an interesting questions and providing evidence based support on clinical decision making/reasoning. 

Our "Morning reports" have repeatedly been described by our residents as the most valuable part of the didactics. We encourage residents to stick as closely as possible to the patient case and have a few slides on learning value from that particular case.

Morning reports are heavy on audience interaction. The goal is to cover all common cases being managed on the floor.

Faculty Lecture

Faculty lectures are held weekly. This usually covers a high value topic with focus on evidence based medicine guidelines and standards of management. Core faculty and subspecialty faculty discuss a wide range of topics. Resident engagement with questions/answer session is encouraged. 

Journal Club

Journal club is held once a month. Senior residents are assigned a paper to present. Residents prepare journal club talks under the supervision of an Associate Program Director. Residents are encouraged to present the study while sticking to the PICO model. After presentation of the article, questions and discussion of the article as well as clinical relevance to daily practice is discussed.

Board Review

Board review sessions are held weekly and given by the core faculty utilizing MKSAP as the main source. The session is a combined review lecture, followed by questions from MKSAP board review course. Emphasis is placed on clinical reasoning and discussions are held throughout the session. 

Cardiac Cath Conference

The Cardiology resident presents a challenging case managed during the cardiology rotation to a multidisciplinary audience of residents, faculty, cardiologists, cardiology department personnel, and nursing staff.

Morbidity and Mortality Report

This is a case that is presented by a second year resident with a focus quality improvement parameters. The resident works with an Associate Program Director to prepare the case and perform root cause analysis. 

Sub-Specialty Lectures

Cardiology, Nephrology, Gastroenterology, Palliative Care, Hematology/Oncology, Endocrinology attendings are scheduled to deliver talks based on the ABIM curriculum.

Ambulatory Lectures

The PGY-3 resident rotating at the continuity clinic prepares a session focusing on outpatient medicine cases, specifically healthcare disparities. 

Hospital Conferences

The Program also participates in QIPS Rounds, Tumor Boards, and Hospital Grand Rounds which are held periodically.

Additional Training

Intern Boot Camp: During the month of July, the core faculty prepare intern-focused lectures, providing interns comfort with early training about commonly encountered medical conditions in addition to system based guidance.  

Quality Improvement Workshop: During the months of Sep. - Dec, faculty provide all residents with interactive sessions focused on understanding basic QI principles and applying these principles with sample problems. 

POCUS Training: Monthly sessions by POCUS trained faculty providing basics of the equipment and utility during hospitalizations, especially in the ED and ICU. 

Current Didactic Calendar