FAQs: Poudre Valley Hospital/Fort Collins Family Medicine Residency program

We offer a well-rounded medical education in a program with a national reputation for excellence. The strengths of our residency program include: full-scope family medicine curriculum; strong experiences in pediatrics, obstetrics, procedures, lifestyle medicine, behavioral medicine, and practice management; ACGME osteopathic recognition; location highlighted in nationally noted “Best Places to Live”; numerous electives to shape residents’ training; and diverse learning from top-quality faculty.

Definitely! Our residents have gone into practice throughout the United States, from rural to metropolitan areas. Of all our graduates, 24 percent practice in Fort Collins.

All of our graduates have found jobs after completing the program. The following is a summary of graduate practice locations: 26 percent in rural/small town (<10,000); 46 percent in small town to medium city (10,000-100,000); 23 percent in large city (100,000-500,000); 5 percent in metro area or suburb (>500,000); approximately two-thirds of our graduates practice in Colorado.

Residents enjoy excellent relationships with local specialists and are on a first-name basis. The residents are able to gain valuable experience from working with the specialists.

Yes! When you become a second- and third-year resident, you will supervise the interns and provide knowledge and expertise as their teachers. We are closely associated with the CU Medical School Branch Campus, located in Fort Collins, and provide a longitudinal training site for 2-3 medical students each year. We also have a robust medical student clerkship program which provides additional teaching opportunities for residents.

We accept eight interns each year.

We look for applicants who will make excellent family physicians and take great care of our patients during their three years of training. We consider the academic record, and also seek seek applicants who exhibit strong interpersonal skills, a commitment to service, interest in serving the underserved, compassionate care, and some likelihood of practicing in the service area of UCHealth.

Interviews are conducted November through January.

We accept applications from international medical graduates who meet the criteria outlined on our website.

Our program provides training in the following procedures: colposcopy, circumcision, dermatology procedures, endometrial biopsy, IUD insertion/removal, Nexplanon insertion/removal, LEEP, joint aspiration/injection, OB ultrasound, and vasectomy, among others. Our residents have an average of 80-plus deliveries by the time they graduate as well an opportunity to learn medication abortion. Our residents have an opportunity to participate in EGDs, colonoscopies, and Cesarean sections with designated core faculty on a longitudinal basis, though we cannot ensure an ability to train these to competency.

Yes, our residency program offers a nationally-recognized practice management curriculum. During the third year, residents receive instruction from a variety of experts in the business aspects of medicine.

Yes, our program offers a night float system for both interns and upper-levels.

We have educational conferences for residents every Monday and Wednesday that focus on various curriculum topics. We also have weekly morning reports, and structured teaching on all inpatient core rotations.

Both are a priority. Our residency program aims to educate residents while providing world-class health care to patients at the same time.

The vast majority of hospital experience is at Poudre Valley Hospital. Trauma surgery is done at the nearby Medical Center of the Rockies. For one month in the second year, residents have a rural rotation at approved rural sites in Colorado. For one month in the third year, residents rotate at a ski clinic in either Steamboat Springs or Snowmass, Colorado.

Yes, residents are provided funding and five educational days per year to attend conferences or to complete online CME.

Interns receive direct and indirect supervision throughout their training. Upper-level residents are in house 24/7 to provide direct supervision of interns. Faculty are onsite during day shift hours and are only a phone call away at night. Our hospital has a number of onsite specialists available all the time to provide additional support or supervision. Interns receive feedback and evaluations on a regular basis to understand their progress.

Each week the hospital attending on the inpatient service facilitates a feedback session where each member of the team provides constructive feedback to all other members, individually and confidentially. We host joint faculty developments with our community preceptors to discuss the art of giving feedback to residents, and we encourage all faculty, staff and residents to give specific, direct, and constructive feedback designed to support our residents and help them grow as professionals. We feel it’s the best mechanism for growth and improvement.

The Family Medicine Center has a diverse mix of patients. We currently have 65% Medicaid, 12% Medicare, 13% commercial, 3% self-pay and 7% state programs (CICP, CHP+). The age mix of clinic patients is Pediatrics 27.3%, Adults 60.8%, and Geriatrics 11.9%.

No. It is not required that you know how to speak Spanish. Bilingual skills are an asset since our clinic frequently takes care of Hispanic patients. The Hispanic population is the largest ethnically diverse population in Fort Collins making up about 11 percent of our community.