Electives

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Residents have the opportunity to participate in elective experiences in their R2 and R3 years. There are 10 weeks of elective time in the R2 year and 14 weeks in the R3 year.

We divide electives into Ambulatory, Acute Care, and Away Electives.

R2s must devote at least 4 weeks of electives to an Ambulatory experience. R3s must devote at least 4 weeks of electives to an Acute Care experience. R2s and R3s can do one Away elective (i.e. at another institution or abroad) each year. Other than these requirements/limitations, residents are then free to choose among the available electives (including "Build Your Own").

Below are brief descriptions of the goals or activities of currently available electives.

Ambulatory

Active Conference Engagement - attend a conference (funding is not provided), learn how to make maximal use of the experience (including networking) and then bring back lessons learned to our institution.
Boards Preparation - prepare for taking the ABFM Board exam, including reviewing results of their prior In-Training Examinations, doing focused study, using our subscription to UWorld to do practice questions, and then preparing a study plan for the time remaining before the exam.
Clinic Efficiency - learn strategies to become more efficient in clinic, such as techniques in the exam room, Epic tools to make charting faster, and ways to use the healthcare team to reduce inbasket management time.
Community Health - develop skills that will allow the resident to be a health leaderwith the knowledge, attitudes and skills to promote equity and health with and for historically marginalized populations.
Gynecology - improve ability to diagnosis and manage common office gynecologic problems. Residents will also be exposed to some advanced prenatal care patients. Residents may have the opportunity to perform office gynecology procedures (e.g. endometrial biopsy, IUD insertion, vulvar biopsy).
Healthcare for the Homeless - learn about outreach services and the management of chronic disease and health care maintenance in the setting of homelessness.
Infectious disease (HIV and TB) - learn about the common symptoms and work up pertinent to HIV and TB; community resources for patients with those diseases; and common treatments and their side effects.
Lactation - obtain hands-on training in lactation medicine and increased experience with newborns, including special care nursery newborns. For those considering future International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLC) certification, portions of this elective will count towards the required hours.
Leading Physician Well-being - learn about the history of health care professional burnout and how to promote wellbeing on a systemic level.
Lifestyle Nutrition - learn how to effectively engage in conversation with patients in lifestyle medicine, specifically around nutrition. They will understand the scientific evidence behind recommending a whole-food plant-based diet for themselves and their patients.
Psychiatry - assess patients, present assessments to an attending psychiatrist, and develop treatment plans with that attending psychiatrist, for patients dropping into an adult mental health clinic.
Scholarship - examine the different components of various forms of scholarly work (such as op-eds, narrative medicine, original research, case report, and literature review), and create and submit a piece of scholarly work which will be evaluated based on a rubric provided. The resident can undertake a larger project if they plan on selecting this elective more than once.
Substance Use - MAT - complete buprenorphine training, evaluate and assess patients for MAT, and understand treatment modalities and access to community services.
Teaching - gain familiarity with teaching strategies (based on the setting) and comfort with delivering a didactic session.
Wellbeing - assess self-care needs and develop a "distress go"-kit, participate in a variety of activities that promote and maintain wellbeing, and contribute to the residency's wellness toolkit.

A resident can also "build their own" elective (as long as it meets certain requirements and is approved by the program director).

Acute Care

OB-Gyn - gain more C-section experiences, improve surgical skills, and improve ability to diagnose and manage acute gynecologic complaints.
Admissions - evaluate, diagnose and manage patients being admitted to the hospital; prepare a lecture on an interesting admission completed during the elective.
Cardiology - gain more in-depth exposure to inpatient and outpatient cardiology patients from the viewpoint of a specialist, to enhance the ability to care for patients with cardiac conditions in a variety of clinical settings.
ICU - gain more exposure to the ICU, to enhance skills to care for critically ill patients; gain more comfort with intubation, ventilators, anesthesia, and interpreting ABGs.
Inpatient Service - This elective is very similar to our regular inpatient medicine rotations, for residents desiring more such experience.
Hospitalist - This elective is tailored for residents who wish to pursue a career as a hospitalist (and is open to R3s only). Therefore, a resident on this rotation takes on responsibilities beyond those of a resident on our usual inpatient services, such as being a consultant to the emergency department, leading the night team, and more.

Away

Away electives are done at institutions outside of Contra Costa Health. It is up to the resident to arrange an away elective, including covering any expenses. Below are some examples of institutions which have recently accepted our residents for an away elective:

Shasta Community Health Center, Redding, CA - Rural addiction and street medicine.
Refugee Health Alliance, Tijuana, Mexico - Outpatient clinic focusing on refugee health and street medicine.
Swedish Addiction Medicine Fellowship, Seattle, WA - Both inpatient and outpatient addiction medicine care, including OB, inpatient addiction recovery unit, and clinic.
Asian Health Services, Oakland, CA - Minor procedures, primary care clinics, Oakland High School's Health Center for Adolescent Health.
Lifelong Medical Care, Richmond or Oakland, CA - Gynecology, urgent care, primary care clinics.
Indian Health Services at Gallup Indian Medical Center (Gallup, NM), Tohatchi Health Care Center (also at Gallup, NM), Winslow Indian Health Center (Winslow, AZ) and Zuni Comprehensive Health Center (Zuni, NM). These are opportunities to practice full-spectrum medicine, often in rural settings.
Fiji - Full-spectrum, global health, including on a remote, outer island of the nation.
Camelback Family Planning, Phoenix, AZ - a nationally accredited, high-volume abortion care clinic.
Wilma Chan Highland Hospital Emergency Department, Oakland, CA - Trauma experience serving a marginalized diverse community.
UC Davis Emergency Department, Sacramento, CA - Emergency medicine experience at an academic level 1 trauma center within an underserved community surrounding our state's capitol.

Please note: the county malpractice insurance (that covers residents for the work they do in our system) does not cover residents while working at outside institutions. Residents must often purchase their own malpractice insurance.