Continuity Clinic

While on elective/ambulatory rotations, residents are scheduled to see a diverse patient population of both kids and adults, with a wide spectrum of indigent to fully-insured patients. Residents are able to recruit patients to their panel to fit personal and academic goals. For example, we have residents who have several refugee patients, mostly Spanish speaking panels, and adults with intellectual disabilities.  At Denver Health we are in a unique position to offer residents a continuity clinic experience that will expose them to a myriad of medical conditions as well as teach them about the different social determinants that affect a patient’s health. Lastly, a major focus is to teach residents how to coach a patient through the various aspects of receiving care at Denver Health ranging from social work visits, follow-up visits, lab/radiology, specialty and surgical procedures.

We are proud to say we have a thriving combined Internal Medicine-Pediatric Continuity Clinic at the Denver Health Southwest Federico Pena Clinic.  Our residents have built an amazing medical home for kids and adults who live in Southwest Denver. Residents are active in local community engagement events organized and hosted by Med-Peds faculty at our clinic. As a Federally Qualified Health Center and a model “safety net” hospital system, Denver Health is the perfect place to have a combined Med-Peds continuity clinic.

Our clinic experience is dynamic and constantly seeking to improve. We are early adopters of efficiency tools such as ambient AI documentation (Nabla) which has increased documentation efficiency.  We have structured experiences for residents to focus on clinic level quality improvement and population management of their individual patient panels. Residents participate in our clinic elective where they gain exposure to specialties represented in our clinic including integrated behavioral health, sports medicine, HIV primary care, transgender health care, GLOABAL Adult Down Syndrome Clinic, urgent care, substance use treatment including medications for opioid use disorder, and family planning clinic. They also have opportunities to be trained in primary care procedures including pap smears, nexplanon placement/removal, IUD placement, endometrial biopsies, joint injections, and incision and drainages.

We have also developed a unique and robust continuity clinic curriculum.  In 2015 we designed the Med-Peds Academic Half Day, monthly half day sessions dedicated to didactics and hands on experiences that focus on a variety of primary care topics and skills. Residents are given opportunities to teach and present to their colleagues. Within the clinic we also encourage scholarly work and residents have presented their QI work and curriculum innovations at local and national conferences

Our combined Med-Peds continuity clinic is an exceptional place for residents to train. We are dedicated to giving each resident a unique clinic experience and always welcome resident feedback in shaping our program.  

Nicholas Breitnauer, MD
Continuity Clinic Director