50 YEARS OF DEVELOPING COMPASSIONATE CAREGIVERS BY LENORE GALLUCCI STEVENSON
For generations, highly skilled health care professionals and support staff at RUHS – Medical Center have provided exceptional, state-of-the-art care to the county’s diverse populations. Our mission is to improve the health and well-being of our patients and communities through our dedication to exceptional and compassionate care, education, and research. One way that RUHS meets this mission is through the residency programs. During the three-year RUHS/ UCR Family Medicine Residency (FMR) program, residents receive training that prepares them to provide excellent patient care, but the program goes beyond developing just clinical skills. Rather, the residency program offers an environment that focuses on compassionate caregiving and leadership, empowering them to become health advocates within the community and role models to future physicians. From 1971 to Now When RUHS became a teaching hospital in the early 1900s, physicians and head nurses worked as instruc-
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tors. Then, sometime in the 1930s, the National Youth Administration began training nurses, with the intern training program beginning around 20 years later. This continued to progress for another 20 years, with the community-based FMR Program beginning in 1971. By 1982, it was one of the first of its kind to gain accreditation in California from the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). The RUHS/UCR Family Medicine Residency program, which is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), has proven to be very successful — since its inception, more than 300 family physicians have graduated from the program. Originally, the program had six resident students at the first-year, second-year, and third-year levels. In 2010, the program grew to 12 residents per year at each level. Today, the program functions with a Family Medicine Chair and Vice Chair. Along with a program director, FMR has a program coordinator with two assistant coordinators, 10 full-time faculty and a full-time clinical psychologist.
FOURTH EDITION
