Residents Teaching Program

Residency Teaching Program

Residency teaching programs have two equally important missions: educating tomorrow’s doctors and caring for today’s patients.

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Here at Rocky Vista Health Center (RVHC) we have a unique Internal Medicine residency program in conjunction with the Skyridge Internal Medicine program for our residents. Rocky Vista Health Center is on the same campus as Rocky Vista University (RVU) College of Osteopathic Medicine, which was established in 2006 as the nation’s first private, for profit health sciences university to offer a professional medical degree since 1910. RVU selected Colorado as its home for the first campus due to the large number of counties designated as medically underserved areas, with only one other medical school to serve the state. RVU opened a second campus in Utah due to the shortage of primary care physicians in the state.

Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (DO’s) are centered around a more holistic view of medicine in which the focus is on seeing the patient as a “whole person” to reach a diagnosis, rather than treating the symptoms alone. The belief that all body parts work together to influence each other. Osteopathic medicine places emphasis on the prevention of disease. In medical school, there is specific training on osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT), a hands-on approach to diagnosis and treatment, as well as disease prevention.

Medical Doctors (MD’s) are physicians that practice allopathic medicine, the classical form of medicine, focused on the diagnosis and treatment of human diseases.

Internal Medicine Residency has had a long track record of transforming great medical students into outstanding physicians, educators, and scientists. We train leaders in internal medicine who are setting new standards in patient care and scientific investigation. We take particular pride in preparing our residents to be agents of change who, through inquiry or practice improvement, are prepared to advance the science and art of medicine while creating the health care system of the future.

Many Physicians in training are attracted to the RVHC Residency program because of the emphasis placed on preparing them be educators of their patients and peers within the health care community. At Rocky Vista Health Center and University, we provide quality healthcare education while inspiring students to serve with compassion, integrity and excellence. We expect our students, administration, staff and all involved with our organization to abide by certain core values: Integrity, Excellence, Collegiality, Service, Compassion, Diversity and Innovation.

Our RVHC Residency Team

Medical students are individuals we are in medical school, they are not referred to as a doctor or Physician until they graduate from medical school.

Interns are completing their first year of postmedical school training (and have graduated medical school). The intern does NOT have the right to practice unsupervised medicine, and must practice within the confines of the training program in which they are enrolled.

Residents are at the point in which the internship year has been completed and a third level of a licensing exam has been passed successfully. The physician may practice as a general practitioner. Residency can range from an additional two years of education to 7 years of training depending on specialty.

Fellows are physicians who have completed their residency and elect to complete further training in a specialty. The fellowship is option and not required to practice medicine but is necessary for training in a subspecialty.

Attending physicians are considered an expert in their field of medicine. These physicians work at a facility that provides education to physicians and play and active role in education. The RVHC attending physicians oversee the practice residency program and educational components of the students.

Short and long white coats have a purpose. The short white coats are worn by medical students who are not physicians until they graduate from medical school. Residents wear longer coats and attending's wear full length coats. Other healthcare professionals also wear lab coats; however, the length rule applies most in the residency clinics such as RVHC. Our Health Center offers our patients Internal Medicine residents, Neuromuscular Medicine residents, and a Podiatrist. We are attempting to provide as much care for as many specialties as we can in our office to provide patient convenience. At Rocky Vista Health Center each resident is in our clinic for ½-1 full day a week. We recommend you assign a primary care physician and speak to that physician regarding who they would recommend as an alternate in the event they are not available and you require an appointment or medication refill. All Internal medicine residents are with RVHC for 3 years and will provide you with your primary care needs for the time of their residency.

Upon their departure they will advise you of a transition of care plan in which you will transition your care to a new resident to take over your primary care needs for the next 3 years. The NMM residents are with RVCH for a 1 year residency and provide OMM (osteopathic manipulative medicine) care to the patients of RVHC as well as many other procedures. You do not have to be a patient of RVHC to be referred to our OMM specialty program, your primary care provider must refer you and we are happy to see you. This is the only part of our practice in which our specially trained residents are able to provide services to infants and children. Please see our sports medicine and OMM brochure for additional information.