Core Rotations

Residents care for acutely ill adult patients within a supportive team environment, which includes three junior residents, a third-year senior, and two attending physicians. We practice patient-centered, evidence-based care for some of the most medically vulnerable patients in our area.

Adult medicine rotation at a glance

• Duration: 28 weeks total in 2-week blocks (including 6 weeks of night float) (please verify numbers)
• Location: Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital

Rotation Leads: Cherie Green, M.D. and Veronica Jordan, M.D.

What you’ll do

• Admit acutely ill patients from the ER and ICU and follow them through their hospital stay
• Care for patients from local community clinics, the VA, county jail, as well as unrepresented patients
• Participate in daily bedside rounds one-on-one with family medicine attendings
  Work with a multidisciplinary team, including social work, pharmacy, respiratory, and physical therapists
• Receive daily noon didactic teaching time on core adult medicine topics, including cirrhosis, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, stroke, and pain management in the hospital. Participate in our AMS night float system as first call to admit new patients and care for unstable floor patients in the night, when acute illness often presents and/or worsens

Skills you’ll gain

• Comprehensive inpatient care of medically ill patients from diverse backgrounds, including elderly patients, patients with limited English proficiency, patients with substance use disorder, patients at the end of life, and pregnant patients with acute medical illness
• How to manage acute exacerbations of medical illness, including heart failure, cirrhosis, COPD, acute intoxication, substance use withdrawal, and co-morbid psychiatric conditions
• How to lead goals of care conversations, interdisciplinary team meetings, family meetings, and hospital safety huddles
• How to provide trauma-informed care in the hospital
• Specialty consultation: who, when, and how to access specialist colleagues
• Team-based coordination with pharmacy, social work, therapists, and discharge planning
• Transitions of care, including palliative care, hospice, acute rehabilitation, skilled nursing, pharmacy, as well as outpatient follow-up

How this shapes your practice

• Your experience in the hospital teaches you to triage acutely ill patients, recognize clinical deterioration and improvement, understand the importance of care transitions, and see clearly the implications of primary prevention and screening. You will finish your time at SRFMR with the ability to practice hospital medicine, if you so choose, but for those who choose not to, you will have plenty of applied knowledge and direct experience to apply to your outpatient practice.

The behavioral medicine program helps residents understand the psychological side of care, build strong patient relationships, and reflect on their own growth as physicians.

Behavioral medicine rotation at a glance

• Duration: 4 weeks
• Location: Vista Family Health Center

Rotation Lead: Britni Pimental, LMFT, PsyD

What you'll do

• Complete four weeks of required rotation activities, divided between R1 and R2
• Longitudinal experiences are scheduled throughout all three years of residency
• Attend conferences and workshops throughout all three years
• Participate in Balint groups to improve relationship building and empathy
• Receive consultation from the behavioral medicine faculty in an outpatient setting

Skills you'll gain

• Diagnosis and treatment of anxiety, depression, and other psychiatric disorders
• How to navigate crisis intervention and family violence
• How to navigate family systems, substance use, child development, and chronic pain
• Management of psychological disorders from childhood/adolescence
• Motivational interviewing (MI) and office counseling
• Psychopharmacology planning
• Stronger cross-cultural perspectives

How this shapes your practice

• Builds emotionally attuned, relationship-centered professionals.

Balint groups

• Balint groups have become an important part of training in Family Medicine and other specialties, allowing residents to explore the doctor-patient relationship in unique ways not found in other behavioral medicine approaches. Multiple studies have shown that residents and practicing physicians participating in Balint groups experience less burnout, higher job satisfaction, improved ability to deal with challenging patients, and more empathy, among other benefits. Our Balint groups are facilitated by an experienced, credentialed Balint group leader.
   

Patients presenting with concerns or conditions of the skin make up a sizable portion of Family Medicine visits. Our dermatology curriculum will provide you with the foundation to diagnose and treat most common skin conditions.

Dermatology curriculum at a glance

• Duration: 4 weeks, plus longitudinal experiences in our Vista Dermatology Clinic and Procedure Clinic.
• Location(s): Santa Rosa Community Health–Vista Campus, Redwood Family Dermatology, and community dermatology offices.

Rotation Lead(s): David Schneider, M.D.

What you'll do

• Complete two 2-week Dermatology rotations in the R3 year
• Diagnose and treat common and less common dermatologic conditions of the skin
• Perform dermatologic procedures including punch & shave biopsies, intralesional steroid injections, lesion excisions, flaps, and more

Skills you'll gain

• Experience and acumen in diagnosing conditions of the skin
• Understanding and proficiency in treating common dermatologic conditions
• Experience in performing dermatologic procedures

How this shapes your practice

• You will gain expertise in diagnosing and managing some of the most common conditions seen in Family Medicine
• You will gain confidence and competence in dermatologic procedures

Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital’s busy Emergency Department manages approximately 50,000 patient visits per year. Residents on ED rotations work directly with staff emergency physicians to evaluate patients and perform a variety of procedures.

Emergency medicine rotation at a glance

• Duration: 8 weeks Adult ED, 4 weeks Pediatric ED
• Location: Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital

Rotation Lead(s): Drs. Nick Peairs, Doug Hoftetter, and Joe Jacober 

What you'll do

• Complete two 2-week ED rotations in the R2 and R3 years
• From the ED, admit patients to adult medicine and OB
• Use elective time to explore additional EM training at Sutter Hospital or in rural and community settings

Skills you'll gain

• Emergency evaluation and procedural skills

How this shapes your practice

• You’ll gain confidence responding to urgent, high-stakes situations in acute care settings

Throughout residency, residents will be exposed to older patients in many settings -- hospital, outpatient clinic, residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs), hospice, and home. Residents have Geriatrics blocks in both the R2 and R3 years, where the most important topics of geriatrics and palliative care/hospice are highlighted, as well as having time to do both panel management and case review of the older adults on their own panels.

Geriatrics rotation at a glance

• Duration: 4 weeks + 2 weeks Hospital Geriatrics
• Locations: Santa Rosa Community Health Centers, Providence Outpatient Palliative Care, Providence/Compassus Hospice, Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital, Grove by Sutter, Catholic Charities of Santa Rosa-Sam Jones Hall, and RCFEs Springlake Village and Arbol

Rotation Lead: Jenny Fish, M.D.
 

What you'll do

• R2 and R3 residents have a 2-week block of Geriatrics where they’ll focus on care of older adults, palliative care, and hospice care
• Panel management and case review of older adults

Skills you'll gain

• Community-based elder care coordination
• Medication management for older adults
• Primary palliative care skills

How this shapes your practice

• You’ll feel equipped to support aging patients and their families with confidence

Care of the musculoskeletal system, both acute and chronic conditions, is central to Family Medicine training. We equip residents with the knowledge, skills, and tools to deliver optimal care.

Musculoskeletal rotation at a glance

• Duration: 6 weeks: 4 weeks in R1, 2 weeks in R2 year (optional elective)
• Locations: Santa Rosa Community Health– Vista Campus, Sutter Sports Medicine

Rotation Lead: Wendy Kohatsu, M.D.

What you'll do

• Within our FQHC home clinic, work in MSK and Orthopedic consult clinics emphasizing the learning of injection procedures and/or osteopathic hands-on treatment under the guidance of our MSK preceptors
• Workup of patients in Neurology and Sports Medicine clinics
• Outside of clinic, residents receive individualized learning sessions composed of only 1-2 residents with experienced faculty to hone MSK exam and POCUS skills

Skills you'll gain

• Understanding of pain generators and refinement of exam techniques
• Injection and POCUS skills
• Osteopathic Manipulation Techniques (skill refinement for DO residents) 

How this shapes your practice

• Builds confidence in managing musculoskeletal diagnosis and treatment in an outpatient setting

Pregnancy care is central to our mission. You’ll learn a family-centered approach to pregnancy and childbirth while working alongside family doctors and obstetricians. 

Obstetrics rotation at a glance

• Duration: 28 weeks (6 weeks night float)
• Location: Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital

Rotation Leads: Hannah Watson, M.D.

What you'll do

• Residents graduate with at least 80-100 vaginal deliveries
• Provide prenatal, labor and delivery care for continuity panel patients
• Care for patients in outpatient OB settings, including clinics for gestational diabetes and substance use in pregnancy

Skills you'll gain

• Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics Course (ALSO®) certification
• Training for first-trimester OB ultrasounds and limited 2nd/3rd-trimester ultrasounds
• Hands-on learning with maternal health educators and doulas
• Experience with medically high-risk pregnancies, including gestational and pregestational diabetes, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, and preterm labor
  Intro to surgical OB (OB fellowship required for competence as a primary surgeon)

How this shapes your practice

• ACGME graduate survey results show that 100% of recent graduates feel prepared for maternity and newborn care.
• 30-40% of our graduates continue delivering babies after graduation.
• Access to mentorship and scholarly projects for those planning to practice obstetrics after graduation. 

From newborns to teens, you’ll learn to deliver compassionate, culturally responsive pediatric care in inpatient, outpatient, and school-based settings.

Pediatrics rotation at a glance

• Duration: 16 weeks
• Locations: UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland Pediatric Inpatient and Pediatric Emergency Department, Santa Rosa Community Health (Federally Qualified Health Center), Sutter Pediatric Clinic, Elise Allen School-Based Teen Clinic

Rotation Lead: Deidre Bernard-Pearl, M.D., FAAP (Pediatrician)

What you'll do

• Deliver preventive and condition-specific pediatric care in a family-centered and trauma-informed way
• Provide pediatric inpatient care at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland alongside pediatric residents
• Provide pediatric outpatient care at a Federally Qualified Health Center Pediatric clinic integrated into Family Medicine
• Manage acute pediatric cases at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland Pediatric Emergency Department

Skills you'll gain

• Well Child Care according to the American Academy of Pediatrics Bright Futures
• Guidelines for newborns through adolescents
• Pediatric Urgent Care
• Pediatric Emergency Care
• Collaboration with Pediatricians and Pediatric specialists

How this shapes your practice

• Graduates confidently deliver comprehensive pediatric care across settings

POCUS is an important extension of the physical examination and has applications for diagnosis and procedural guidance in multiple areas of Family Medicine. While we do not believe that POCUS replaces the physical exam, we feel it is a critical enhancement to current and future practice.

• Duration: 2 weeks of POCUS rotation and 2 more optional weeks
• Location:
  • Longitudinal experience during your clinics at Vista and during your Adult Medicine rotations at Sutter, using our cart-based ultrasound machines, or residency-owned handheld units, or your own personal handheld ultrasound
  • POCUS Clinic, a specialty referral clinic we started at the Santa Rosa Community Health-Vista Campus
  • Small group MSK sessions with POCUS
  • POCUS Workshops during orientation and throughout the year in didactics

Rotation Lead: David Schneider, M.D.

What you'll do

• Use POCUS in the clinic to aid in the diagnosis of common complaints such as dyspnea, abdominal pain, musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction, and other complaints
• Use POCUS in the hospital to aid in diagnosis and to guide management of common issues such as heart failure, intestinal obstruction, DVT, and more
• Use POCUS regularly in your clinic to assess estimated gestational age, fetal presentation, amniotic fluid index/single deepest pocket, and other key factors in pregnant patients
• Screen for abdominal aortic aneurysm
• Perform ankle-brachial index
• Use POCUS to guide inpatient and outpatient procedures

Skills you'll gain

• Use of POCUS in pregnant patients to assess dating, fetal well-being, and presentation
• Diagnosis of musculoskeletal complaints
• Assess abdominal pain with POCUS to aid in decision-making
• Evaluate acute and subacute dyspnea with POCUS
• Perform rapid POCUS in clinic to assess the likelihood of DVT
• Quickly raise or reduce the probability of entities in your differential diagnosis
• Perform ultrasound-guided procedures

How this shapes your practice

• You will use POCUS as an extension of your physical exam
• You will graduate with competency in POCUS for a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic applications

Procedures training takes place in continuity clinics in the Family Health Center at Santa Rosa Community Health-Vista Campus, and at sites throughout the community. Residents receive direct supervision from experienced clinicians.

Procedures rotation at a glance:

• Duration: 4 weeks
• Locations: Santa Rosa Community Health– Vista Campus, Sutter Stony Point, Sutter Airway
• Cross-training: Dermatology, emergency medicine, and obstetrics rotations

Rotation Lead: Douglas Jiménez, M.D.

What you'll do

• During your R1 and R2 years, you’ll focus on outpatient procedures in multiple settings
• Perform dermatologic procedures (in addition to your dermatology rotation) and various procedures in the health center during all three years of training
• Perform intraarticular, periarticular, and various other musculoskeletal injections in the health center throughout your training
• Perform colposcopies and vasectomies, including patient counseling and interpretation of results
• Perform a variety of inpatient procedures during obstetrics and emergency medicine rotations
• Residents may use elective time in the R2 and R3 years to arrange further training in a variety of procedures
• Previously completed electives, including international opportunities, are captured in a database to assist trainees in establishing or fine-tuning a procedure-focused (or any other) elective

Skills you'll gain

• Perform reproductive health procedures, ultrasounds, and other minor surgical procedures
• Perform skin biopsies, injections, lesion removals, and skin flaps
• Perform vasectomy, colposcopy, and LEEP procedures

How this shapes your practice

• You’ll graduate with the procedural foundation expected of a full-spectrum family doctor
• You will learn advanced procedures, such as vasectomy and skin flaps, which you may opt to use in your practice
   

Training in Reproductive Health takes place both in continuity practice as well as on dedicated rotations in specialty clinics.  SRFMR is a founding member of TEACH (Training in Early Abortion for Comprehensive Healthcare) and collaborates with various Bay Area Planned Parenthoods to provide comprehensive abortion training.   Additionally, our robust curriculum includes didactic lectures, various procedural workshops, and collaboration with local and national Reproductive Health training and advocacy organizations.

Reproductive health rotation at a glance

• Duration: 8 weeks
• Locations: Santa Rosa Community Health-Vista and Dutton Campuses, Planned Parenthood, Away rotations
• Cross-training: Procedures rotation

Rotation Lead: Talia Kostick, M.D.

What you'll do

• Provide in-depth patient counseling in our resident-run Options for Pregnancy clinic
• Train in colposcopy and vasectomy procedures during the Procedures rotation
• Work with consulting OBGYN colleagues in our Gynecology clinic
• Perform endometrial biopsies, difficult IUD removals, pessary evaluations, vulvar biopsies, paracervical blocks, and various other procedures in our Reproductive Health Procedure clinic
• Provide comprehensive contraceptive and abortion care 

Skills you'll gain

• Contraception counseling and competency in the placement of LARCS
• Evaluation and management of gynecological conditions like cervical dysplasia, incontinence, abnormal uterine bleeding, menopause, infertility, breast abnormalities, vulvar conditions
• Obstetric and basic pelvic ultrasound
• Medical and procedural management of early pregnancy loss and pregnancy of unknown location

Abortion Training

• SRFMR has a comprehensive training program for first trimester medication and procedural abortion
• Residents train to competency in both medication and procedural abortion
• Residents who do not wish to pursue abortion training may 'opt out' and participate in alternative educational pathways

How this shapes your practice

• Our program has a long history of providing exceptional training in the care of Reproductive Health conditions.
• 97-98% of our recent graduates report comfort in providing IUD/Nexplanon insertions and abortion care after graduation.
   

This rotation centers on evidence-based, person-first care for people navigating substance use.

SUD rotation at a glance

• Duration: 2 weeks R1 and 2 weeks optional R3 elective
• Locations: Russian River Health Center, Sam Jones Hall, Santa Rosa Community Health-Vista and Caritas Campuses, Centerpoint Drug Abuse Alternatives Center (DAAC), Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital
• Cross-training: Adult Medicine and Obstetrics rotations

Rotation Lead: Erin Lund, M.D., MPH

What you'll do

• Care for patients with a SUD on the inpatient rotations throughout all three years
• R1 residents spend one 2-week block learning about the care of patients with substance use disorders
• R2 and R3 residents rotate through the New Beginnings clinic and provide SUD care for patients with mental health disorders facing unstable housing or in continuity clinics
• Care for patients in outpatient buprenorphine and methadone clinics, local needle exchange programs, perinatal SUD intensive outpatient treatment program, and clinics that provide healthcare services to unhoused adults
• Rounding with Addiction Medicine Fellows on the inpatient addiction consult service at Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital
• Receive 1:1 teaching with addiction-trained faculty to review core readings, cases, and discuss values around treating this population
• Rotate through SUD specialty clinics at the Vista Campus of SRCH, including an adult medication-assisted treatment (MAT) clinic for patients with opioid use disorder, an HIV and Hepatitis C clinic, and a perinatal SUD clinic
• Most residents opt into an additional 2-week SUD elective in R3
• Option for additional electives or fellowship training upon graduation

Skills you'll gain

• Provide integrated care for patients with SUD across multiple settings
• Screening and Brief Intervention for SUD in Primary Care
• Medication-assisted treatment
• Care of patients experiencing homelessness

How this shapes your practice

• You’ll be ready to care for patients with SUD in any setting with humility and evidence-based treatment.

Capstone rotation at a glance
Two weeks of time apart for END of year R1’s (rising R2’s), for reflection, wellness, and togetherness

• Complementing the intense disease-focused learning of intern year with skills gained in community medicine and social drivers of health
• Fostering joy in work by developing skills in advocacy and agency through various means in several channels
• Duration: 2 weeks

Rotation Lead: Allison Bacon, M.D. 

What you’ll do (a sampling, curriculum varies yearly)

• Advocacy: community-based, advocacy in house of medicine, advocacy writing
• Food as medicine: Culinary Medicine, food insecurity
• Trauma-informed care/SUD and supporting resilience
• QI project time
• Street Medicine
• Medical arts electives: collage, canning, improv, reflective writing
• Bayer Farms mini health fair
• Structural violence training
• Intro to asylum work, immigration law, human trafficking
• Outdoor Therapy
• Herbal medicine for the underserved
   

Electives are intended primarily to enrich residents' training with experiences relevant to their plans for future practice or their interests as family physicians. A resident advisor must approve your choice of electives.

Electives rotation at a glance

• Duration: 19 weeks of elective selective (ES) (including 14 weeks of opt-out electives in MSK, SUD, POCUS, Reproductive Health, Dermatology, Procedures, and Ambulatory OB) and 6 weeks of elective away (EA)
• Locations: Varies

Rotation Lead: Jacklyn Cheng, M.D., MPH

What you'll do

• Customize electives based on interests and career goals
• The amount of elective time varies per program year.
  • PGY-I: 1 week of ES paired with 1 week of vacation
  • PGY-II: 2 weeks of ES each paired with 1 week of vacation, 2 weeks of templated opt-out MSK ES, and 2 weeks of EA
  • PGY-III: 12 weeks of templated opt-out ES rotations, 2 weeks of ES, and 4 weeks of EA

Our Leadership and Professional Development (LPD) curriculum helps you shape the kind of doctor you want to become.

Leadership rotation at a glance

• Duration: 6 weeks
• Location: Residency Office

Rotation Lead: Allison Bacon, M.D.

What you'll do

• Develop a personalized longitudinal portfolio with guidance from advisors, mentors, and curriculum leaders. You’ll meet with mentors for two weeks in R1, and a week each during R2 and R3.
• Attend capstone events for teambuilding and quality improvement projects
• R3 residents receive training in peer-to-peer feedback, teaching junior residents, public speaking, CVs, and contracts

Skills you'll gain

• Residents can pursue activities in DEI, advocacy, reflective practice, personal finance, practice management, food justice, community engagement, and more

How this shapes your practice

• Prepares you to lead inside and outside the exam room with a focus on lifelong learning.

Our program has a structured experience in which residents address population health, including the evaluation of health problems in the community. We demonstrate competence in systems-based practice by connecting patient clinical quality measure data to structural and historical inequities. This curriculum analyzes accessible and transparent data about our key clinical quality performance measures (CQMs) through a health equity lens to reduce disparities in clinical care.

Population Health Outcomes at a glance

• Duration: Longitudinal over 3 years

Rotation Lead: Danny Toub, M.D., AAHIVS

What you'll do

• Work on an interdisciplinary team to complete a quality improvement (QI) project that addresses health equity

Skills you'll gain

• Recognize the role of internalized, interpersonal, and structural racism in shaping the health and health care outcomes of populations who have been historically marginalized
• Critically reflect on the historical, cultural, and structural contexts of Social Drivers of Health  (SDoH; e.g., socioeconomic status, neighborhood factors, cost of health care), health systems, and institutional racism
• Connect hyper-marginalized patients to health insurance, resource support for SDoH, and/or care management

How this shapes your practice

• Learning to improve health outcomes for populations of patients who have been historically marginalized by addressing structural drivers of health using the Community-Oriented Primary Care (COPC) model allows our residents to: 1) link resident training and clinical care to the needs of our community, and 2) advocate and partner to respond to community needs.