Two Novel Urban Health Primary Care Residency Tracks That Focus On Community-Level Structural Vulnerabilities

Although residency programs are well situated for developing a physician workforce with knowledge, skills, and attitudes that incorporate the strengths and reflect the priorities of community organizations, few curricula explicitly do so.

To develop urban health primary care tracks for internal medicine and combined internal medicine-pediatrics residents.

Academic hospital, community health center, and community-based organizations.

Internal medicine and combined internal medicine-pediatrics residents.

The program integrates community-based experiences with a focus on stakeholder engagement into its curriculum. A significant portion of the training (28 weeks out of 3 years for internal medicine and 34 weeks out of 4 years for medicine-pediatrics) occurs outside the hospital and continuity clinic to support residents' understanding of structural vulnerabilities.

Sixteen internal medicine and 14 medicine-pediatrics residents have graduated from our programs. Fifty-six percent of internal medicine graduates and 79% of medicine-pediatrics graduates are seeking primary care careers, and eight overall (27%) have been placed in community organizations. Seven (23%) hold leadership positions.

We implemented two novel residency tracks that successfully placed graduates in community-based primary care settings. Integrating primary care training with experiences in community organizations can create primary care leaders and may foster collective efficacy among medical centers and community organizations.