FAQ

Delaware County is incredibly diverse. Both of our outpatient offices see patients from a variety of cultures, ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds. The ChesPenn Center for Family Health serves a significant number of first-generation immigrants and presents an opportunity for the residents to practice culturally sensitive, patient-oriented medicine. It also serves an underserved, inner-city population, including many Spanish-speaking patients from Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and other Central American countries, as well as a significant African population

During the intern year, our residents work with Ob/Gyn, Medicine, Transitional Year, Pediatrics, and Surgery residents while rotating through those departments and function fully as an intern on the team. 
 

Our call schedule is very reasonable. Call varies based on your rotation and academic year. You will be scheduled for call only when you are on the corresponding rotation. We do have a jeopardy system in place for emergencies.  
 

During your intern year, call mostly consists of weekend coverage. You will work 6-day weeks while rotating on inpatient pediatrics, medicine, ICU, and our inpatient service (FHC). This averages out to about 6 months of the academic year. You will help cover night float while on inpatient pediatrics and ICU. Your only 24-hour call shifts are when you are on FHC (3 separate months throughout the year), where you will do 2 per month.  

In addition to the 6-day work weeks as described above, you may be scheduled for night float on your Ob/Gyn rotation. You may also have a weekend shift on your ER rotation depending on the schedule.  

As a senior resident, your call is mostly limited to our inpatient service. You accompany an intern on a 24-hour call shift twice a month while you are on FHC (2 separate months as a PGY2, 1 month as a PGY3). 

Senior residents also cover our night float. Night float is interspersed throughout a senior resident’s schedule as 6-night weeks (Sunday night to Saturday morning) in one to two week blocks. PGY2’s have 4 total weeks of night float while PGY3’s have 2 total weeks. PGY2’s also rotate at Nemours Children’s Hospital’s Emergency Department for one month, where they average 6-day work weeks between ER shifts and office sessions.  

As a result, this call schedule equates to about 4 months of 6-day work weeks as a PGY2 and 6 weeks of 6-day work weeks as a PGY3.  
 

In addition to inpatient call responsibilities, senior residents work evening hours for our two primary care offices. ChesPenn Center for Family Health has evening hours from 5-7 PM every Monday, while the Center for Family Health has evening hours every Wednesday. Coverage rotates, with two senior residents working each session at a time. This equates to about 1-2 evening hour sessions per resident a month.  
 

Interns are given three weeks (15 days) of vacation and five days of CME. During both the second and third years, residents are given four weeks (20 days) of vacation and five days for CME. Vacation days are submitted 3 months in advance and are not limited to one week blocks. 
 

Yes! This residency has historically been very democratic with an administration and faculty excited to respond to resident input. Dr. Warning, our program director, strongly advocates for resident issues. Residents are able to discuss their concerns with the Chiefs at monthly resident meetings.

Although all residents become proficient in OB care and meet the delivery requirements during their three years, not all residents practice OB once they graduate. Residents who are interested in OB tend to pick up more prenatal patients and have elective opportunities for more training. Interns spend two months on OB, working with OB residents and attendings. During the second and third years, residents follow their own prenatal patients in the outpatient setting and then deliver these patients with our collaborative Ob/Gyn faculty at Crozer Chester Medical Center. By graduation, each resident will have a total of 20 deliveries with 2 being continuity deliveries.  
 

We accept ten residents per training year into the program.

Our competency-based curriculum and flexible elective system allows each resident to develop expertise in the full spectrum of family medicine, including sports medicine, family-centered obstetrics, gynecology, geriatrics, behavioral medicine, women's health, and medical informatics. Throughout our curriculum, we place special emphasis on ambulatory care. Each rotation has defined competencies for residents and attendings to use as teaching guides and evaluation tools. We have recently implemented a new evaluation model centered around the ACGME Family Medicine Milestones in order to provide residents with a comprehensive overview of their strengths and weaknesses. 

The two programs have a close relationship. Initiated in 1996, the Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship Program is based at the Healthplex campus of Springfield Hospital, a mile from the Center for Family Health. The Healthplex itself is a state-of-the-art, 176,000-square-foot wellness facility and health club. The Healthplex campus features the Sports Medicine Institute and the Center for Human Performance - our United States Olympic Committee-designated athlete testing facility - as well as a 14,000-square-foot comprehensive physical medicine and rehabilitation facility. The Center for Family Health supports continuity of care for sports medicine patients under the supervision of our three Family Medicine faculty who have certificates of Added Qualification in Sports Medicine. More information about the Sports Medicine Fellowship is available on Crozer Health's Residency & Education homepage; highlight "Fellowship" on the menu. 

Being in proximity to both highly desirable suburbs and neighborhoods of Philadelphia, residents have a multitude of living options. About half of our residents choose to live in the city since our training locations average about a 30-minute commute from Philadelphia.  The other half of our program lives in highly sought out suburbs of Delaware county. With proximity to New Jersey, some of our residents choose to even live in the South Jersey suburbs of Philadelphia.  

Residents choose to track at the Upper Darby Global Health Office by the beginning of their PGY-2 year. Each intern spends time at both offices then decides where they would like to build their continuity panel for the PGY-2 and PGY-3 years. There is currently no limit on the number of resident Upper Darby trackers we can have in each class, since our intent is to accommodate each resident's interest. All residents will spend time seeing patients at both our offices, with approximately 80 percent of their office time at the chosen continuity office. 
 

Time to explore pathways comes out of the generous six months of elective time provided for each resident. Residents will work closely with their advisors and mentors to explore established pathways as well as create their own pathways if desired. Residents are given the flexibility needed to explore their existing and future interests and passions. Residents are also not required to choose a pathway and may choose to dedicate their training to becoming highly skilled, empathetic primary care physicians in the community.