Curriculum

AnMed Family Medicine Residency provides a breadth of education you’ll be hard pressed to find anywhere else. You’ll experience the entire spectrum of medicine — from labor and delivery to geriatrics to everything in between. Each resident develops an individual learning plan, with elective choices throughout the curriculum, to match future practice goals. And as we have the sole residency program in the hospital, you will never be competing for learning opportunities or procedures.

Rotation Structure

AnMed rotations are in 13 four-week blocks per year. In the first year, there are 7.5 blocks of inpatient rotations (pediatrics, obstetrics and inpatient medicine), with continuity clinic occurring one half-day per week in all blocks. 

By the third year, there are three blocks of inpatient rotations (mainly adult medicine) with three to five half-days of ambulatory continuity clinic per week on the other blocks. This matches the general focus of most graduates toward ambulatory care after graduation, with the capability to continue to practice hospital medicine, if desired.

Throughout the residency, we host weekly meetings that cover procedural techniques. We also have team-based conferences on inpatient and outpatient medical care, including MAT (medication assisted treatment) and behavioral medicine.

  • First Year
    • Community Medicine: 4 weeks
    • Pediatrics (inpatient): 8 weeks
    • Pediatrics (outpatient): 4 weeks
    • Obstetrics: 8 weeks
    • Adult Teaching Service (day coverage & night float): 12 weeks
    • Emergency Medicine: 4 weeks
    • Sports Medicine/Elective: 4 weeks
    • Surgery: 4 weeks
  • Second Year
    • Pediatrics (inpatient): 8 weeks
    • Sports Medicine: 2 weeks
    • Adult Teaching Service (Primary): 8 weeks
    • Obstetrics: 6 weeks
    • Wellness Medicine: 2 weeks
    • Dermatology: 2 weeks
    • Ambulatory Medicine: 4 weeks
    • Emergency Department: 4 weeks
    • Practice Management: 2 weeks
    • Adult Teaching Service Supervising Resident: 2 weeks
    • Electives: 12 week
  • Third Year
    • Ambulatory Medicine: 4 weeks
    • Adult Teaching Service (day coverage/back-up): 10 weeks
    • Adult Teaching Service (back-up/night float): 4 weeks
    • Community Pediatrics: 2 weeks
    • Orthopedics: 4 weeks
    • Psychiatry: 4 weeks
    • Endocrinology: 4 weeks
    • Geriatrics/Hospice: 4 weeks
    • Kids' Care (Pediatric Urgent Care): 2 weeks
    • Electives: 14 weeks
  • Elective Options
    • Anesthesiology
    • Cardiology
    • Critical Care
    • Dermatology
    • Diabetes Education
    • EKG
    • Gastroenterology
    • Global Health
    • Gynecology
    • Hospice and Palliative Medicine
    • International Medicine
    • Laboratory Medicine
    • MSK Ultrasound
    • Nephrology
    • Pharmacology
    • Point of Care Ultrasound
    • Practice Management
    • Psychiatry
    • Pulmonary Medicine
    • Radiology
    • Research
    • Respiratory Therapy
    • Rheumatology
    • Sports Medicine
    • Surgery

Practice Sites

Residents will practice at the following locations: 

Patient Population

Our population reflects the needs of Anderson, a diverse community in Upstate South Carolina. Approximately 24 percent of ambulatory visits are from patients under 16, and 28 percent are from those older than 60. Our curriculum will help you learn the necessary skills to provide comprehensive care to all patients in any future practice.

One of the most important things I learned in residency was how to learn. You will always come across a case or diagnosis you have little understanding of, and residency prepared me for a career of lifelong learning.

Kenny Jackson, 2014

Specialized Elective Tracks

Your core residency training at AnMed is in Ambulatory Family Medicine. Take advantage of the opportunity to shape your training experience with optional tracks that align with your medical aspirations.

The Family Medicine Residency tracks allow you the flexibility to concentrate part of your individualized learning plan on a specialized area during your second and third years. Choosing a track allows you to pursue your medical interests in your second and third year of residency and helps you become an exceptional physician in a certain area of family medicine. 

Explore the family medicine resident tracks available at AnMed.
 

Global Medicine

Develop into a well-rounded family physician serving the health needs of local or international communities when you elect AnMed’s global medicine track.

Throughout your training, the program offers mentorship and support from faculty. As you prepare to advocate for and improve health outcomes for people in underserved communities around the world, you’ll dive into topics such as procedural skills, ethics, infectious disease, tropical medicine, and other areas of interest.

The international field experience portion of the track will reveal the health disparities that exist throughout the world. A unique feature of this track is that AnMed provides a $6,000 stipend for second-and third-year residents to help you with the trip cost.

Your faculty-led trip may take you to Asia, Central America, northern China, Sub-Saharan Africa, or another destination. These trips will likely inspire you to make long-term commitments to global health issues. An added benefit is you’ll make connections with other colleagues and mentors because community physicians also go along on the trips.

Hospital Medicine

Focus on caring for patients in the hospital in the growing specialty of hospital medicine while developing critical knowledge and skills. This track gives you access to training and experiences beyond the existing residency curriculum and expectations. This track is for you if you want to be a full-time hospitalist after your residency.

You’ll get guidance from hospital medical faculty and learn how to work in a multidisciplinary team of nurses, care managers, specialty consultants and palliative care experts. You’ll gain knowledge and skills while participating in robust clinical rotations in the hospital setting, including ICU care and the emergency setting. You will also get training in billing and coding for hospital medicine.
 

Lifestyle Medicine

Learn how to use evidence-based medicine to prevent, treat, and even reverse chronic diseases in the lifestyle medicine track. This track offers training you won’t find in most medical schools or residency programs. AnMed is uniquely qualified to teach residents lifestyle medicine as an American Board of Lifestyle Medicine-approved site. Our board-certified lifestyle medicine physician is a faculty member and will act as your mentor.

You can expect thorough, individualized attention that helps you understand how lifestyles affect patient health. This track can help you become skilled at integrating therapeutic lifestyle interventions into your future practice. You’ll grow your knowledge and competency in coaching patients about:

  • Diet and nutrition
  • Physical activity
  • Sleep and stress management
  • Social connectivity and support

As a physician trained in lifestyle medicine, you’ll educate and motivate patients to make lifestyle changes, improve their overall health outcomes, and lower healthcare spending.

Sports Medicine

Get more exposure to sports medicine beyond the family medicine residency core curriculum experience in the sports medicine track. If you’re considering a sports medicine fellowship or significant sporting event coverage in your future practice, this track will help you develop knowledge, clinical skills, and experience to deliver high-quality musculoskeletal and sports care for athletes.

Your curriculum has six-and-a-half months of electives and up to three blocks in one focused area. By the end of your residency, you’ll have clinical exposure to techniques such as injections, casting, splinting, and ultrasound.

Additional sports medicine track activities and experiences include:

  • Event coverage with the local high school teams and team physician responsibilities for Anderson University and Clemson University
  • Musculoskeletal interventional ultrasound training
  • Working with a local orthopedic group practice
  • Attendance at sports medicine resident meetings
  • Mentorship from fellowship-trained sports medicine faculty and orthopedic surgeons

Residents who complete this track are competitive for AnMed’s Sports Medicine Fellowship or other sports medicine fellowship positions throughout the United States.
 

Women's Health

Consider the women's health track if you’re interested in women’s gynecologic and maternity care. The family medicine residency emphasizes well-woman care. Still, you can further concentrate your training and tailor your skills in this track.

The clinical setting allows you to increase your women’s health outpatient skills and gynecologic and obstetric procedural skills such as colposcopy and endometrial biopsy. You’ll also develop skills in performing office-based ultrasounds.

AnMed’s practicing family medicine physicians and OB-GYN specialists will train you in each area. You’ll have a faculty advisor to mentor you, help you choose electives, and find a future practice.
 

Procedural Training

During your residency, you’ll have opportunities to perform many common procedures.

Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS)

POCUS Training

All family medicine residency tracks integrate ultrasound training into a workshop environment. You’ll practice on two state-of-the-art ultrasound simulators and use Butterfly pocket ultrasounds in the family medicine center and on your hospital rotations. 

This extra training gives you an important skill for real-life patient care, such as global medicine trips, sports medicine clinics, inpatient procedures, and obstetrics and gynecology care. We envision that most residents will have an ultrasound device in their pocket soon.

Preparing You for the Future

Integrating your POCUS training into your practice will be valuable when you're a family physician. POCUS can address some patient barriers to imaging services and allows you to make critical decisions and diagnose medical conditions at the point of care.

Women's & Children's Health

  • Long-acting birth control placement and removal (Nexplanon and IUDs)
  • Newborn circumcision
  • Colposcopy
  • Endometrial biopsy
  • First assistant at C-section
  • Perineal laceration repair as part of vaginal birth
  • Vaginal birth, including vacuum assisted delivery

Imaging

  • Point of care ultrasound

General Surgery

  • Incision and drainage procedures (I&D)
  • Laceration repair

Dermatology

  • Shave and punch biopsies

Gastroenterology

  • Paracentesis
  • Anoscopy
  • Hemorrhoid manamgent

Pulmonology

  • Thoracentesis
  • PFT interpretation

Musculoskeletal

  • Joint injections
  • Trigger point injections
  • Osteopathic manipulation treatment (OMT) training

​​​​​​​Common Office Procedures

Residents will do common office procedures in their own continuity clinics, such as:

  • Anoscopy
  • Assisting local specialists in doing EGD, colonoscopy and treadmill stress testing
  • Fluorescein exam of the eye
  • Foreign body removal from eye, ear, and nose
  • Sebaceous cyst removal
  • Skin biopsy
  • Skin cancer resection

Conferences

The Family Residency Program has faculty- and resident-led conferences each Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. with lunch provided. The 18-month curriculum also includes talks by specialists who focus on a primary care approach to common medical conditions.

Expanded and procedural workshops occur on Wednesday afternoons once a month for each resident class. Topics are chosen to ensure comprehensive inpatient and outpatient topics and include MAT, Lifestyle Medicine and wellness workshops. Also included are procedural workshops such as Point of Care ultrasound, Musculoskeletal injections, dermatologic procedures, along with others.

Supportive Community

Throughout the year, we host many gatherings that foster a close-knit atmosphere, including our intern welcome party at Lake Hartwell. Residents enjoy a safe, vibrant community with excellent weather and a supportive educational environment. Some graduates go on to fellowships, but many begin practicing family medicine in their own community.

Contact Us

Call 864-512-1473 to learn more about AnMed’s Family Medicine Residency Program.