RESIDENTS & NEW PHYSICIANS By: Ryan Paulus, DO PGY3 and Molly Duffy, MD PGY3 UNC Family Medicine Residency Program
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
I Trained at a Full-Scope Family Medicine Residency, Now What? So, you’ve graduated from a full scope Family Medicine Residency. You spent three years providing holistic care to people of all ages and backgrounds. You worked throughout the hospital, on the wards, the ICU, labor and delivery, and the Emergency department. You explored your interests in the outpatient setting, learning ways to best serve your continuity panel by becoming proficient in point-of-care ultrasound, addiction medicine, end-of-life care, hepatitis C treatment, and prenatal care. You worked in federally-qualified health centers, community hospitals, public health departments, large tertiary care centers, and academic clinics. Now that these three years are coming to a close, you finally have to address the one question that hasn’t been answered, what’s next? If you are like us, the answer to that question seems obvious. We want to continue to use our full spectrum training to provide comprehensive care to people in our communities. When reflecting on our time in residency, a few patient encounters stand out. Just recently a patient came in to establish care at one of the clinics in our Rural Health Track. She was a 38-year-old woman presenting after she was found to have high blood pressure at a work physical and was told she needs to start a medication to lower her blood pressure. Throughout the visit, she gradually shared
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the rest of her story. She has a history of opiate and alcohol use disorder. She takes methadone but has been struggling to get to her methadone clinic because it is over 45 minutes away from her home. She shares that she has also been dealing with lifelong depression and anxiety, and in addition, needs a referral to an OB-GYN because her IUD is expired. In a 30-minute visit, we were able to start treatment for her hypertension, connect her to our on-site behavioral health counselor to discuss her mood disorder, get her scheduled for IUD replacement, and
The North Carolina Family Physician
