Clinical Rotations

Inpatient Family Medicine & Internal Medicine

Medical teams consisting of two junior and two senior residents are designated the Family Medicine team, both during the day and for night float. They are responsible for the care of those Family Medicine Center patients requiring hospitalization, admissions from private attendings, and for emergent care of other hospitalized patients. A Family Medicine faculty member functions as the teaching attending for these patients and oversees the care delivered by the residents via daily teaching rounds.  

The Director of Medicine and a Family Medicine faculty member, along with a number of attending internists and subspecialists on the medical staff, directly oversee the inpatient internal medicine rotation. Attending physicians admit patients to the Medical Teaching Service and thereby actively participate in the teaching program on a daily basis. All admissions are formally presented to specially selected attending physicians at "sign-in" and "sign-out" rounds. As a result, instruction is assured from three complementary sources: the Director of Medicine, the attending staff physicians, and senior residents.

Family Medicine Residents from all three years comprise the medical teams responsible for the initial evaluation, the diagnostic work-up and the therapeutic management of patients admitted to the teaching service. Residents learn the different aspects of patient care by following patients from the beginning of their hospitalization through to their discharge.  Additionally the patient’s primary care resident actively participates in the management of their patients regardless of their rotation. This insures continuity of patient care. There is also a significant longitudinal experience in the Intensive and Coronary Care Units as well as a "block" rotation in cardiology at South Nassau as a second year resident and a one month rotation in the ICU at Nassau University Medical Center. The transition from junior to senior resident responsibilities in medicine occurs during the second year. The resident begins to assume an active teaching role, an important skill to be developed to complement the basic clinical skills. The senior resident also responds to all cardiopulmonary arrests, and is responsible for directing and coordinating resuscitative attempts.

Pediatrics

The Department of Pediatrics is under the guidance of two full-time Directors who are part of the staff of 40 pediatricians. There are also two full-time neonatologists for supervision and training. There are 11,000 admissions to the 22-bed inpatient service and 1,200 newborns annually. The large number of pediatric Emergency Room visits, as well as the large number of pediatric patients at the Family Medicine Center, affords excellent ambulatory pediatric training.

At South Nassau the Family Medicine Resident works closely with a third-year
Pediatric Resident from LIJ – Schneider Children’s Hospital. Together they evaluate and admit patients in the Emergency Room, make formal rounds with the Director of Pediatrics, and attend Caesarean sections and complicated deliveries.

A Special Care Nursery is under the on-site supervision of two neonatologists. Daily teaching rounds are made with the attending neonatologists and the pediatric resident. This level of neonatal care allows our Family Medicine residents to gain educational exposure to a variety of neonatal problems.

The inpatient experience is strengthened with a month rotation in outpatient Pediatrics
the residents second year and another in the resident’s third year. Additionally, residents are trained in the care of children with developmental disabilities.

Surgery

The Department is staffed by more than 100 BE/BC surgeons. There is an advanced design, 12-room operating suite where more than 6,000 procedures are performed annually, along with a busy ambulatory surgery unit. During the first year, one month is spent on the surgical team: assisting at surgery, rounding on patients with the chief surgical resident, and participating in the initial evaluation and management of trauma and acute surgical cases in the Emergency Room.

During the third year, one month is spent on outpatient surgery, under the supervision of a staff general surgeon. The resident scrubs on the surgeon's scheduled cases and accompanies the surgeon to office hours. There, the resident gains valuable experience in minor surgical techniques and evaluation of outpatient surgical problems.

Obstetrics and Gynecology

Approximately 1,200 deliveries are performed each year at South Nassau Communities Hospital, with over 300 being patients of the Family Medicine Center. There are four labor rooms, a birthing room, four operative/delivery suites and two state-of-the-art LDRPs. The LDRPs allow labor delivery, recovery, postpartum to occur all in one room. A family physician and two full-time obstetricians supervise the Family Medicine resident during the rotation. Residents are trained in the full management of low risk pregnancy and uncomplicated delivery and episiotomy/repair. The resident also assists in Caesarean section and gynecologic surgery. Recently purchased colposcopy equipment enables us to provide colposcopy, cryotherapy, and endometrial biopsy to our Family Medicine Center patients.

One month is devoted to outpatient gynecology, where the resident is exposed to evaluation and management of patients with problems in gynecologic endocrinology, infertility, cervical dysplasia, family planning and common ambulatory gynecologic complaints.

Emergency Medicine 

Our modern Level II Emergency Department is one of the busiest on Long Island's South Shore, with more than 37,000 patient visits per year. There are 12 monitored beds, including a separate suite for major trauma and cardiac emergencies, a pediatric suite, an ophthalmology-ENT room, an orthopedic suite and an area for "Qwik-Care". There is a full-time board certified Director and 24 hour-a-day coverage by staff E.R. physicians. In addition to the longitudinal exposure that residents receive during their three years, there is a total of 2 months of block E.R. rotations.

Family Medicine Center

Throughout their 3 years, all residents have their continuity clinics at the South Nassau Family Medicine, the Family Medicine Center. During the third year, residents spend two months in charge of the Family Medicine Center. They are scheduled to be in the Family Medicine Center daily seeing continuity and urgent care patients. Though one of their busiest months, residents find this rotation as the best preparation for “the real world”.

Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine

During this rotation, residents will learn osteopathic principles and practice from a combination of outpatient and inpatient experiences. Residents will become proficient in the indications, contraindications, and application of osteopathic manipulative treatment. Daily rounds on patients admitted to the hospital provide the residents an opportunity to perfect their osteopathic knowledge and skills in the inpatient setting. Residents will also be precepted by private physicians in the community specializing in osteopathic manipulative medicine. In addition to this rotation, residents receive longitudinal experience during the three years of residency through monthly OMT sessions, as well as during continuity clinics, at the Family Medicine Center.

Subspecialties

Surgical subspecialties include orthopedics, ENT, urology and ophthalmology. They are primarily office-based, and are focused on the aspects of these disciplines most appropriate for the practicing Family Physician. Additionally, there are consultants available in the Family Medicine Center, for Family Medicine patients in the following specialties:  GI, cardiology, nutrition, podiatry, OB, lactation, dermatology, and  pulmonology.

Geriatrics

There is a block rotation during the first year of residency based at a Geriatric Facility in the area. During the second and third years residents follow a panel of patients in the nursing home, whom they see monthly. There are regular case conferences on these patients. Additionally, residents make visits to home-bound patients during the course of their residency.

Orthopedics and Sports Medicine

Two months of orthopedics and sports medicine are required of all residents. One month is spent in the first year, and another month in the third year. During this time, the resident works with the orthopedist in his office, but also works with the physical therapist and physiatrist. Residents participate in the cardiac rehab program, and in addition to sports injuries management and prevention, the residents perform pre-participation sports physicals.

Other Educational Experiences

In the third year, there is a rotation emphasizing contemporary practice management including didactics, time spent in a community family physician's office, and the creation of an individualized business plan. In addition, there are educational experiences available at South Nassau's Wound Care Center®, Diabetes Education Center, Cardiac Rehabiliation Center, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Unit.

Electives

A full complement of hospital and community-based electives are offered, including those at other major New  York metropolitan area teaching hospitals and even in distant locales such as Alaska.