Feature Story
Health Center Today, October 25, 2010
UConn Continues Commitment to Primary Care
By Carolyn Pennington
At a time when the country is experiencing a shortage of primary care physicians, the Health Center’s Internal Medicine Residency Program has been awarded a $1.9 million grant to add two more residency positions per academic year. The federal grant is funded through the Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration‘s (HRSA) Primary Care Residency Expansion Act.
Dr. Steven Angus is program director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program and project director of the grant. “We have an opportunity to develop and implement an innovative educational curriculum that will continue to attract students to our program long after grant funding runs out. We have the faculty resources and administrative structure from the University and our affiliated partners to make this a model of primary care training that will be highly educational and effective.”
The Categorical Internal Medicine Residency Program has an intern class of 46 and a total program size of approximately 120, including osteopathic residents and chief medical residents. The new positions will start in July 2011, but Angus and the project’s co-director, Dr. Rebecca Andrews, are already developing the novel curriculum.
The residency program recently developed an office-based medicine track which will serve as the backbone for the new primary care initiative. Angus says the grant funding will also allow the development of other educational partnerships with private practitioners and community health centers in order to provide a well-rounded educational experience.
National Primary Care Week October 23 - 30
UConn medical, dental, nursing, and pharmacy students are participating in community health fairs in the greater Hartford area, Willimantic and Hamden as part of National Primary Care Week October 23 - 30.
Students will provide free blood pressure and blood glucose screenings as well as preventive health education materials during the health fairs, scheduled from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 27.
“These educational efforts provide needed exposure to future health care providers about the importance of primary care and about the altruism and caring that is part and parcel of the practice of medicine,” says Dr. Bruce E. Gould, associate dean for primary care at the UConn School of Medicine and director of the Connecticut Area Health Education Center.
For a list of community health fair locations and information about other Primary Care Week events, visit http://publichealth.uconn.edu/npcw.php.