Electives
In addition to the full array of traditional electives in internal medicine subspecialties, the program offers several special opportunities. Residents are encouraged to choose from important areas within and related to internal medicine. Furthermore, if one of our residents self-identifies an opportunity that she/he would like to try, we work to create a unique month that fulfills their needs. Our emphasis is on flexibility and helping our residents tailor their training to best meet their future career interests and goals.
Sample List of Elective Opportunities
| Adult Urgent Care Clinic |
| Advocacy and Leadership |
| Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology |
| Alternative/Complimentary Care |
| Hospice and Palliative Care / Geriatrics |
| Introduction to Global Health and Tropical Medicine |
| Outpatient Cardiology and Treadmills |
| Outpatient HIV Medicine |
| Preceptorships: Community Based Private Practice / Indian Health Service / Urban Underserved |
| Psychiatry for the General Internist |
| Research Elective (Clinical or Basic Science) |
| Residents as Medical Educators |
| System Based Practice |
| Women's Health |
Learning and practicing medicine in another country is a unique opportunity. The Department of Medicine encourages residents to train and practice medicine in remote communities. We have partnered with the University of Colorado Denver Center for Global Health to expand and improve international offerings.
We have several opportunities to spend time internationally. Our two most established opportunities with some support for expenses incurred are:
- Colorado – Zimbabwe International Exchange (CoZIE) program in Harare, Zimbabwe. This is a bilateral exchange program between University of Colorado School of Medicine (DOM UCSOM) and the Department of Internal Medicine in the University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences (UZCHS). The rotation takes place in their medical school, which is located in an urban setting. This allows for residents to work in a resource poor setting with a team of UZCHS faculty, residents and medical students.
- The Guatemala (Trifinio) Global Health Elective. This is a clinic experience located ~45 minutes south of Coatepeque, Guatemala. The Center for Global Health and the Hose Fernando Bolaños Foundation developed this clinic and community programs in the surrounding area. The clinic serves a population of banana plantation workers and their families. Residents will work in the clinic with other providers to care for the surrounding areas. The population includes children and mothers allowing for other specialties as well.
Other highly rated experiences include:
Primary care residents are required to
complete a preceptorship in an underserved area. All residents may
choose to do an underserved preceptorship.
Local sites include:
Denver Health and Hospitals Clinics, Refugee Clinic, Stout Street
Clinic, MCPN, Wheat Ridge Regional Center and others. Having the
opportunity to spend a month at a single site will allow residents to
experience the rewards of providing primary care to underserved
populations.
Indian Health Service Sites: Residents can take advantage of wonderful opportunities in these unique clinic locations in southwestern Colorado,Arizona,and New Mexico(near the Four Corners)Several CU graduates serve as preceptors.
Rural Colorado: Several previous residents of the UCD program have left the Denver metro area to practice in rural areas of Colorado. Many of these physicians are excited to act as preceptors to current residents looking to experience a physician’s life outside the big city. As medicine becomes more and more specialized, you can spend a month learning what it’s like to practice without easy access to a cardiac catheterization lab, an MRI machine, or even most subspecialties at a variety of excellent sites around the state.