Using a general internal medicine consult service to teach residents and care for patients

A general medicine consult service can be difficult to manage because house staff are unaccustomed to the consultant role, the required knowledge is new and diverse, and the curriculum may be poorly defined. Within the last 3 decades, perioperative consultation has been more rigorously studied and a more evidence-based method has emerged. The consultative service at the University of Tennessee has developed a systematic approach to medical consultation that provides efficient, evidence-based patient care along with resident education. The curricular model, which reflects the newly required competencies of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the Residency Review Committee, is transferable to most training settings.