Internal Medicine Residency | Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

Internal Medicine Residency

Internal Medicine Residents

Application Information

General Information

The Internal Medicine Residency Program at TTUHSC-Amarillo continues full accreditation by  Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).  

The usual complement of Internal Medicine residents now includes thirteen Interns, thirteen PGYII and thirteen PGYIII. Fifty-two third year TTUHSC medical students are involved in core rotations in Amarillo, typically eight or nine at a time in Internal Medicine; a similar number of fourth year students are present, pursuing various requirements and electives.

Patient service and teaching are the foundation of our mission. We achieve good patient volume and diversity via our two main teaching hospitals, Northwest Texas Hospital (NWTH) and the Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC). NWTH is a private 400-bed hospital but is also responsible for the indigent of the community and is our regional trauma center. Here we admit our own Texas Tech private patients, those from the Amarillo Hospital District's Wyatt Clinic, and those via the ER without a physician. The Thomas E. Creek VAMC provides treatment to 25,000 patients yearly. The VAMC maintains 69 acute care beds and a 120-bed skilled nursing care unit. The inpatient experience is bolstered by outpatient experience at our own Texas Tech Physicians clinics. In addition, we are closely affiliated with the local clinic of Texas Oncology, P.A., a large network of oncology physicians in the State of Texas.

Our full-time Texas Tech Internal Medicine clinician faculty, all board-certified, are dedicated teachers, weighted toward general internal medicine, but with the subspecialties of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Endocrinology, Infectious Disease, Sleep Medicine, Cardiology, Dermatology, and Geriatrics represented. Northwest Texas Hospital is also a regionally accredited Heart Hospital and the designated stroke center. The VAMC has a separate similarly-sized faculty of various generalists and subspecialists. In addition, we utilize "clinical faculty", i.e. community physicians in other Internal Medicine subspecialties and non-IM fields such as gastroenterology, ophthalmology, and radiology, etc. for clinical and didactic teaching. An outstanding group of Ph.D. researchers rounds out our faculty.

On the subject of didactics, Morning Report is conducted at each teaching hospital. Weekly Grand Rounds, an organized year long curriculum of noon conferences, and weekly board review sessions  as well as Monthly Journal Club are given. Procedural skills are taught by our Critical Care specialists.  TTUHSC-Amarillo has a multi-million dollar simulation center as part of a collaborative effort between TTUHSC, Amarillo College and West Texas A&M University. Through SimCentral, the residents receive training on hospital-based clinical scenarios and procedures.

Additionally, our ABIM Board pass rate has been 100% in 2022,2021 and in 2020.

In addition to the pursuit of clinical excellence, we strive to instill the values of professional/personal ethics, responsibility, and accountability to patients, faculty, resident colleagues, and healthcare staff.

"At our residency program, we are committed to train the future generation of physicians who are compassionate and dedicated to serve the community, in an environment promoting cultural competency. "

ASM Islam, M.D.

Associate Professor Residency Program Director

Program AIMS  

1. To promote a training experience that is broad-based, comprehensive, humane, and patient-centered. Our learning atmosphere should combine nurturing collegiality with a focus on excellence in medical knowledge and patient care.

2. Our graduates should be capable of independently managing patients as primary care internists and as hospitalist, and should have background both in procedural skills and critical appraisal of evidence to compete for desirable fellowships. They should have ample experience in ambulatory and inpatient care, in general medicine as well as subspecialty practice. They should be knowledgeable, efficient, and safety-oriented, and should be comfortable caring for diverse patients, including veterans, patients with limited means and rural patients of West Texas.

3. Our program strives to inculcate the core values of respect for diversity, humility, honesty, and resilience (resistance to burnout). Our residents should work to improve themselves and the healthcare system in commitment to life-long self-education and leadership.

Program Requirements & Curriculum

The TTUHSC-Amarillo Internal Medicine residency program operates under the Program Requirements for Resident Education in Internal Medicine, established by the ACGME. These are strictly followed. The Core Competencies of Patient Care, Medical Knowledge, Practice-Based Learning and Improvement, Interpersonal and Communication Skills, Professionalism, and Systems-Based Practice are stressed. Readers are encouraged to review this document on the ACGME website. For example, interns are limited to five admissions per call day and upper level residents are limited to ten (our call on ward teams is one-in-four, in ICU one-in-four). In order to accommodate the most recent ACGME duty hour requirements and prevent resident fatigue, Texas Tech at Amarillo has converted to clinical service coverage that requires no longer than 16 hour shifts for any of the residents or interns. On all inpatient services, night shift coverage prevents any resident or intern from having to take overnight call. The 80 hour per week limit is strictly enforced, though rarely do any residents approach this limit in their routine work requirements.  All residents and interns get at least 4 days off per month. 

When viewed as a three-year whole, at least one-third of the training involves ambulatory experience, as mandated by the ACGME and in keeping with the trend in medicine toward greater outpatient care. Our clinics and hospitals, of course, have computer support with around the clock internet access to medical references and clinical support sites. Our outpatient resident continuity clinic is equipped with a fully implemented electronic medical record by Allscripts. Residents will receive training to be able to provide comprehensive medical care for their patients in an otherwise "paperless" clinical setting.

The first year resident, with the direct supervision and support of an upper-level resident and faculty attending physician, develops clinical diagnostic and medical management skills and assumes increasing responsibility in caring for patients with a wide variety of acute and chronic problems in the inpatient and outpatient settings. Typical Internal Medicine procedural skills are learned during the first year, including an introduction to placement of arterial lines, central lines, and Swan-Ganz catheters during the Intensive Care rotation. All this supports advancement to the more independent performance and greater responsibility required during the second and third years. The intern is also expected to pursue scholarly learning and, perhaps most importantly, to maintain the highest standard of personal and professional conduct.

Inpatient

  • NWTH "Ward" - 3-4 months
  • VAMC "Ward" - 2-3 months
  • NWTH ICU/CCU - 1 month
  • NWTH Night Shift - 1 month
  • NWTH Pulmonology - 1 month
  • NWTH Nephrology- 1 month
  • Cardiology - 1 month

Outpatient

One afternoon per week IM continuity clinic at our Texas Tech Internal Medicine Clinic.

(Scheduled Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday; to continue throughout the 3-year residency)

The second year resident, still with the support and supervision of the attending physician, further develops clinical diagnostic and medical management skills and assumes greater responsibility for the care of the patient. Added responsibility involves the direct supervision of the intern and medical student.

A continued high standard of personal professional ethics and humanistic qualities is required, including being a role model for others on the team. Further procedural skills are developed and supervised. Scholarly activity is encouraged.

Inpatient

  • NWTH "Ward" - 2 months
  • VAMC "Ward" - 2 months
  • NWTH ICU/CCU - 2 months
  • "Night Float" - 1 month

Electives - 5 months (1 month each of Cardiology, Hematology/Oncology, Consult, Emergency Room and Geriatrics required in 2nd or 3rd year; other choices include typical IM subspecialties such as Pulmonology, GI, Nephrology, Endocrinology, Rheumatology, Infectious Diseases, Anesthesiology, Dermatology, Radiology are also  available).

Outpatient

  • One afternoon per week IM continuity clinic at Texas Tech as before.
  • Clinic/office experience specific to each elective, including Flex Sig and Stress Testing.

The third year resident builds upon the second year, developing further clinical competence and procedural skills, as well as a greater academic foundation. Although many duties in this year are similar to those of the preceding year, and faculty supervision is still in place, the third year resident assumes greater responsibility, leadership, and supervisory capacity. Further subspecialty training via electives, more outpatient experience, and continued scholarly activity lead to the goal of becoming fully independent by the conclusion of residency. As always, the highest personal and professional standards should be upheld; third year residents, in particular, should be exemplary role models.

With input from all residents and faculty, third-year residents are selected as Chief Residents and assume additional responsibilities regarding schedules, conferences, and teaching.

Inpatient

  • NWTH "Ward" - 2 months
  • VAMC "Ward" - 1 month
  • NWTH ICU/CCU - 1 month
  • NWTH Floor/ICU "Night Float" - 2 month
  • Electives - 6 months (see choices under PGY-II)

Outpatient

  • One afternoon per week at Texas Tech as before.
  • Clinic/office experience specific to each elective, including procedural skills.


Benefits

For all benefits and conditions of employment including information concerning leaves of absences and medical malpractice insurance, please visit the Amarillo Graduate Medical Education page.

Institutional Benefits

Departmental Benefits

Membership in the American College of Physicians is paid by the Department. This membership includes the 'Annals of Internal Medicine' publication.

Paid Leave Time

  • PGY-I  Residents receive 28 days of leave time.
  • PGY-II and PGY-III residents receive 35 days of leave time.

The time off must be approved by the department 6-8 weeks in advance.

Additional Benefits

The Department provides each resident with a subscription to UpToDate, an online reference service. This license includes 24/7 access to the UpToDate site from any computer with an Internet connection in addition to software that can be installed on a compatible PDA.

The Department encourages research and publication and is awarded by the Dean's Office at the Research Day. The Department sponsors attendance at the state ACP meeting for a jeopardy team of 3 residents, and residents with abstracts accepted at the meeting. Department also sponsors Residents with abstracts accepted to regional and national meetings.

Applicant Information

Thank you for your interest in our Internal Medicine Residency Program. Please click here for a PDF document outlining Applicant Information for the 2023-2024 academic year.