Frequently Asked Questions

Nothing could be further from the truth! Typically the fewer the residents, the less competition there is for learning. However, we would argue that our learning experience is actually enhanced by having other residencies in our institution. Just consider the internal medicine residency, for example. They have to have enough specialists to support the residency program. This means that EAMC has more capability to keep patients that need subspecialty care. Therefore, family medicine residents have opportunities to follow their patients more closely instead of having to relinquish them to another hospital. For instance, when our patients have a myocardial infarction, the residents can see them in the Emergency Department, follow them to the cardiac catheterization lab and watch the procedure, discuss the presentation and treatment with the cardiologist, and round on the patient the next morning to see how they are doing. Then they can see them in their clinic in a few weeks for hospital follow-up. Talk about continuity of care! And because Family Medicine takes care of only Family Medicine patients in the hospital, there is absolutely no competition for patients between any of the services. When considering this it is important to balance depth of experience and breadth of experience. Hospitals that are completely unopposed have a large breadth of experience as they take care of everyone in the hospital. Unfortunately, these experiences often do not have a large depth as the acuity of patients are typically not high as the specialist needed to keep these patients in the hospital are not there, so the patients are sent elsewhere. In contrast, large medical centers with dozens of programs provide an experience with good depth as you can keep high acuity patients in the hospital, the competition with other programs affects the breadth of your experience. We believe EAMC has the perfect balance as we only benefit from the programs at EACM (Internal Medicine, Surgery, and Orthopedic Surgery) as we have access to their specialist but do not share patients, and at Eisenhower we are unopposed in pediatrics and obstetrics providing a great experience with these patients that family medicine residents typically have a hard time getting at larger medical centers. 
 

Family Medicine residents are well respected in the hospital. We take care of hospital staff and their families and are respected for our competent, continuous, compassionate, and comprehensive care amongst everyone in the hospital.

Strengths

• By far the greatest strength of EAMC is the people! There is truly something unique about our residency. Faculty who have trained at other institutions attest to this truth when they arrive. The leadership has put together a phenomenal faculty who are role models in all aspects of life: professional and personal. Our core value of maintaining a cohesive atmosphere fosters a working environment that is rarely duplicated. This is something you will have to experience first-hand to better understand.
• Faculty size, diversity, and continuity. Our faculty have a wide variety of experiences both in the military and civilian world. We have over 20 faculty for 18 residents which puts us in a unique situation of having one-to-one longitudinal faculty advisors. We have many fellowship trained family physicians (1 sports medicine, 1 obstetrics,, and 5 faculty development). About half of our faculty are civilian (most with prior military experience) which creates much needed continuity in this time of increased operation tempo. This brings great stability not often found in military residencies.
• Emphasis on a holistic approach to family medicine training. Our learning environment is everywhere. In the clinic, on the wards, on the ultimate frisbee field, in each other’s homes eating dinner, at triathlons and adventure races. Residents are taught to be excellent clinicians while encouraged to live well-rounded lives. Students with like-minded principles are often attracted to this ideology which leads to a body of residents who love to learn in a collegial, encouraging atmosphere.
• Broad scope of family medicine training in all aspects of family medicine: outpatient, inpatient, maternal child, pediatrics, geriatrics, behavioral health, outpatient procedures, and sports medicine. You will be more than adequately trained!
• Broad procedural experience in mainstream and complementary medicine. The curriculum will give you plenty of exposure, but the residents who actively seek out procedures become even more proficient at ones they would like to continue after residency.
• Great blend of military healthcare, civilian academic facilities, and civilian private practice exposure. Best of all worlds!

Challenges

• Obstetrical deliveries and newborn care performed outside our facility. While it is certainly less geographically convenient to deliver babies at an outside facility, the benefits far outweigh the negatives for us. Delivering at Doctors Hospital will in no way inhibit your ability to deliver far beyond residency requirements for continuity deliveries. Plus, the warm and inviting atmosphere at Doctors for family medicine residents is hard to replicate even at military facilities.
• Less operational exposure. Fort Gordon is not known for its operational tempo. It is home of the US Army Cyber Command, US Army Signal Corps, and has many airmen, sailors, and marines. Although Ft Gordon does not have a plethora of operational training sites, that does not limit the options of pursuing operational medicine after residency. In fact, many of our residents have pursued operational careers upon graduation.

We have a very healthy, balanced exposure to maternal/infant health, and with no pediatric or OBGYN residents at Eisenhower, we get to care for all of these patients. We emphasize continuity obstetrical experiences with our residents. The residents are encouraged to see their continuity OB patients for most of their antepartum visits. The Family Medicine department delivers all low-risk, term obstetrical patients from Fort Gordon. This includes our continuity patients in Family Medicine and patients from our obstetrical colleagues. We average 50-60 Fort Gordon beneficiary deliveries per month at Doctors Hospital (http://doctors-hospital.net/service/maternity). Our residents invariably surpass the standard 10 continuity deliveries required in residency and average 80-100 total deliveries in their residency career which consist of spontaneous vaginal deliveries, vacuum-assisted vaginal deliveries, and first-assist on cesarean sections. Family medicine faculty provide 24/7 coverage of labor and delivery and newborn care. We have 24/7 obstetrical and pediatric coverage for operative and intensive care needs for our patients should the need arise. We pride ourselves in having a cesarean section rate of well below the national average. The mother and infant “couplet” care at Doctors Hospital goes hand-in-hand with our approach to maternal and child care.


Residents take maternal/infant call throughout their training at Doctors Hospital. They are allowed to take call from home if there are no actively laboring patients.

Residents also receive an opportunity for high volume delivery months at Fort Campbell. Residents average 30-40 deliveries per month during this rotation. This high volume exposure is meant to solidify the residents’ obstetrical skills so they can put them to consistent practice in a more ideal pace when back at Augusta.

Newborn nursery rotations early in training are designed to solidify the fundamentals of newborn care. Infant resuscitations, newborn exams, sepsis work-ups, and circumcisions are plentiful, and residents will be proficient in all aspects of routine newborn care. These skills will be continually refined throughout residency via longitudinal maternal/infant call.

We believe you will get an exceptional experience in maternal and infant health and will be prepared to perform low-risk obstetrics and newborn care in any future environment once you complete your training. Our residents will attest to that fact!

Augusta remains one of the most popular retirement choices in the Southeast, and Fort Gordon hosts a large training population of young families. These factors provide for tremendous opportunities for residents to see a great balance between adult, pediatric, adolescent, geriatric, and obstetrical patients. Patient empanelment is purposefully distributed so that patients assigned to residents cover the spectrum of ages. Residents also have pediatric and obstetrical appointments reserved in their clinic schedule to ensure a variety of patient encounters.

Call frequency and intensity is balanced in such a way as to provide frequent patient care and educational opportunities without fatiguing and over-working our residents. The night float system allows our residents to take very few inpatient calls when not on night float. Residents average eight 24 hour inpatient family medicine calls each year, eight 24 hour ICU calls concentrated in the four week ICU rotation second year, and twelve 24 hour home calls during their maternal newborn rotations . Residents are allowed to take Maternal-Newborn call from home if there are no actively laboring patients.

We believe our educational curriculum and faculty commitment to it is second to none. However, national family medicine curriculum standards are constantly evolving to best deliver healthcare to our patients. In addition, our worldwide military mission is constantly in flux and provides a wide array of demands on our future graduates which makes it critical for us to reevaluate our military unique curriculum. We review our curriculum every year during our Annual Program Review in which all suggestions for improvement are considered from faculty and residents. This openness to adaptability offers our residency opportunities to modify the curriculum based upon critical feedback from current experiences.

The major residency positions (Director, Assistant Director, and Student Coordinator) should remain the same this academic year.

EAMC uses an electronic medical record for both outpatient and inpatient services. The hospital is equipped with a wireless network and residents are given laptop/tablet PCs that can be used anywhere in the hospital. This allows you to carry them into the exam room with you, round with your computer on the wards, and even take your computer home and review records and complete work via a remote access. Gone are the days when you had to complete all your work at the hospital. The electronic capabilities give you the ability to get home to your family and complete your work when it is convenient for you.

Salary is dependent on time and rank in the military. Assuming your path in the military is like most and you are coming directly to residency from medical school with no prior military service, you can expect your monthly/annual salary to be the following*:

R1-$5,853 monthly, $70,203 annual
R2 without license-$6,167 monthly, $74,004 annual
R2 with license-$6,417 monthly, $77,004 annual
R3-$6,957 monthly, $83,487 annual
Keep in mind that Augusta is one of the most affordable places in the country to live, and that goes a long way!

Our department’s policy is to pay for the attendance to any conference in which you are invited to present an accepted submission of scholarly activity. Some of our residents have found themselves attending conferences in many parts of the world due to their hard work. It is our commitment to your education!

*Based on 2017 rates, and before taxes.
 

Absolutely. We are a 3rd year clerkship training site for the Medical College of Georgia and Uniformed University of the Health Sciences. We also have a very busy recruiting season in which 4th year students rotate for audition rotations. We have an average of 4-6 students rotating with us at any given time. Residents play an active role in teaching students in many different venues.

In addition to partnering with residents in their scholarly activity requirements, our faculty are very active in scholarly activity themselves. Here are some examples (hyperlink to scholarly activity page) of their interests. 

The military match process occurs much sooner than our civilian counterparts. Students finalize their selections for residency by 01 Nov of their 4th year. That necessitates them visiting or interviewing at as many of their residency choices as possible before that time. Most of our residents visited EAMC in some capacity as a student, but not necessary rotated with us. Our first choice would be for you to plan on doing a 3rd or 4th year rotation with us. This allows both of us to get to know each other better. You can learn much more about a residency by experiencing everyday life with us, and vice versa. Perhaps the next best option is for you to visit us for a few days for a personal interview. That allows you to see our facilities and meet us first-hand. Putting a face with a name is often very helpful as we review candidates. Finally, we conduct many phone interviews with students for various reasons. If you plan on ranking our residency in your list, we highly advise a phone interview at the very least. 

If you are applying for a PGY-2 position, please contact our residency administrative assistant (Melisa’s email) for further details.
 

For those with spouses that are also medical , we have many residents with dual physician families. We have a very good working relationship with the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University which offers almost every residency you can imagine. Students who find themselves coming to EAMC will often find a very welcoming atmosphere for their spouse at MCG in the residency of their choice. We will also make every effort to notify a department at MCG of your arrival and your spouse’s desire for a residency position. In addition to MCG there two other large training institutions within 1 hour from Augusta and several more within 2 hours.

For those who have spouses working in other industries opportunities abound in teaching in public and private institutions, small and large business, and government employment at Fort Gordon, Savannah River Site, and the National Security Agency. Many of our family members work in these environments and are always willing to help our resident spouses find work.