Infectious Diseases Consultation Service:

Goals: 

To demonstrate competence appropriate for a general internist in the diagnosis and management of clinical infectious diseases. 

Objectives: 

To understand the significance of clinical microbiology laboratory results.

To evaluate and manage common infectious disease problems of adults in the hospital setting:

Rational use of Antimicrobial agents

Prevention and treatment of central line infections

Febrile neutropenia

Nosocomial and community acquired pneumonia

Cellulitis

Chronic wound infections

Endocarditis

Multi-drug resistant organisms such as MRSA and VRE

Hospital Associated Diarrhea

Sepsis syndromes

Meningitis

FUO

To apply the principles of HIV/AIDS treatment:

 Diagnosis of HIV

 Initial evaluation 

 Selection of antiretroviral agents

 Prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections

To describe the basic principles of hospital epidemiology:

 Hand hygiene

 Isolation guidelines

To review the common outpatient infectious disease problems of adults:

STDs

Diarrhea

Rashes

Common Viral Infections

To describe emerging Infectious Diseases:

West Nile virus

Bioterrorism related organisms

Pandemic influenza

 

Learning Venues:

ID Consultation Service

Residents round with Senior ID specialist daily, six days per week. Residents review all culture data and other test results, as well as pertinent physical findings on their patients, present to the attending and discuss management.

ID Conferences

Each resident might be required to present one case, with literature review, per rotation.  Residents may be asked to participate in additional case presentations involving their patients. 

Microbiology Laboratory

Observation with a microbiology mentor.

 

Required Reading:

Infectious Diseases Chapter in Cecil’s Essentials of Internal Medicine or equivalent, per attending ID specialist.

Competency Evaluation: 

At the end of the rotation, a global assessment form will be completed and discussed with the resident. The resident might be required to complete a shelf-type examination at the end of the rotation with 70% correct scoring expected.   

Outcomes Assessment: 

The educational success of our elective in infectious diseases will be based on two criteria:  (1) infectious diseases subsections scores on the in-service examination of all residents who have successfully completed the elective and (2) infectious diseases subsections scores on the ABIM certifying examination in internal medicine taken by medical graduates.  Our goal is all residents scoring at the 50th percentile or higher.