About Our Longitudinal Curriculum

The curriculum at VCU - Fairfax Family Medicine is based on the philosophy that the best way to learn how to be a family physician is to learn from experienced family physicians in a setting that reflects where and how they practice.

The program employs a longitudinal curriculum. The first year is largely hospital-based and traditionally structured with block rotations on all the major services where they develop a a solid foundation of medical knowledge. In addition all first year residents have regularly scheduled patient care in the Family Medicine Center including a month long Family Medicine Rotation to begin developing core office skills. In the second and third year, residents are based in the Family Medicine center full time where they follow a large, diverse population. Hospital care and specialty electives are incorporated into the office schedule, allowing maximum patient continuity.

The faculty functions as "clinician teachers", i.e. physician with superb clinical skills and active academic interests. Residents are "clinician learners", i.e. early practitioners of family medicine whose skills and knowledge are developing in an academic environment. In this setting of academic excellence residents and faculty jointly pursue innovative methods to deliver the best in medical care for acute illness, chronic conditions, and preventive care. Perhaps the best description of the Fairfax program came from the program’s second residency director, Dr. William H. Carter, Jr., who labeled the model as "supervised practice with academic enhancement".