Department of Internal Medicine
Department of Internal Medicine

Internal Medicine Electives

Please remember: ALL ELECTIVES MUST BE APPROVED BY THE PROGRAM DIRECTOR PRIOR TO BEGINNING!

Once approved, please send an email to Charity at Harbes.A.Charity@uth.tmc.edu so that you are entered correctly into GMEIS and your evaluation is assigned to the correct attending. Failure to have an evaluation correctly assigned an completed in a timely manner will result in NO CREDIT for the elective. Note: You MUST ATTEND CONTINUITY CLINIC DURING ALL ELECTIVES.

For other information not listed below, please contact Charity Sembera at (713) 500-6536. Please take a copy of the Blank Evaluation with you for your attending to fill out if your elective is not at UT Houston.

NOTE: FOR ALL RESEARCH ELECTIVES:This form must be filled out and submitted before the elective begins.
Also, if you will be working with human subjects, please go to this link for information on a class you must take.
  1. Consult/Subspecialty electives- These are non-call months designed to be done by residents who have special interests in these subjects. These months will enhance the clinical and/or research training at both intern and resident level. They also facilitate finding mentors and establishing a rapport with them to do goal directed research. The experience is enhanced by specialty conferences, journal clubs and city-wide conferences that can be attended if residents want to do so.

      1. Ambulatory medicine
      2. Cardiology consults
      3. Cardiology clinic with Dr. Willerson
      4. Cardiology- Echocardiography
      5. Cardiology- Electrophysiology
      6. Cardiology – Heart Failure Service with Dr. Meyer
      7. Nephrology Consults
      8. Critical care nephrology
      9. Renal Transplant Service
      10. Endocrinology Consults
      11. Calcium and Mineral metabolism clinic
      12. Reproductive Endocrinology Clinic
      13. Geriatrics Consults
      14. Palliative Care Consults
      15. Pulmonary Consults
      16. Infectious Diseases Consults
      17. Gastroenterology Consults
      18. Hepatology Consults / Liver Transplant Service
      19. Hematology Consults
      20. Oncology Consults
      21. Rheumatology Consults
      22. Wound Care clinic with Dr. Halphen at LBJ
      23. Hyperbaric Medicine/Wound Care Clinic at Hermann Hospital

  2. HIV clinic/ Thomas Street Clinic- This is a special month designed for residents or interns who would like to enhance their understanding of HIV, opportunistic diseases and current treatments. This rotation will help to enhance your procedure skills as multiple procedures are done at Thomas Street clinic including thoracentesis, lumbar puncture, arthrocentesis, paracentesis, pelvic exams and colposcopy. Several other consultants have different clinics here and on prior request those clinics can be attended.
  3. Research elective- Research in various fields is available and highly encouraged.  This elective requires prior meetings with a research mentor, finalization of a research projects, IRB approval and writing of a hypothesis at least 1 month prior to the commencement of the elective. This protocol needs to be followed and emailed in writing to the associate program directors before commencement of the elective. There are several regional medicine conferences where an abstract may be presented to obtain the complete experience of the elective.
  4. Critical Care Nephrology- This is a special month designed for learning of the concepts in critical care issues of Nephrology patients and it involves rounding on  patients at different ICUs in Hermann Hospital.
  5. Emergency room rotation- This rotation can be done either at the intern or resident level. This provides an opportunity to see different patients in the critical stages of their ER presentation. Shock room experience will give exposure to multiple procedures including intubation, administration of paralytics, Quinton catheter placement, central venous and arterial line placement, suturing and trauma workup among others. The residents will also gain expertise in use of bedside ultrasound techniques available in ER. They will also be able to work in close association with Surgery and Obstetrics and gynecology and Radiology residents. The work in ER is in terms of shifts of 11 hours and at least 14 shifts must be done to be given credit for this month. Dr. Carlos Roldan will be in charge of this rotation. Residents are expected to attend Wednesday ER conferences held at Medical School.
  6. MD Anderson Cancer Center clinics- This elective can be arranged to observe and participate in care of ambulatory oncology patients. This needs to be arranged at least 2 months in advance in writing with prior approval of the supervising faculty and the program director.
  7. MD Anderson Cancer Center research- This elective can be arranged to formulate and start a research project in the field of resident’s choice. This needs to be arranged at least 2 months in advance in writing with prior approval of the supervising faculty and the program director. Some residents have done clinical and/or basic science research including projects involving GI malignancy, Neurooncology, Dermatopathology, Leukemia, Investigational Cancer therapeutics to mention a few. There is extensive paperwork involved that must be SUBMITTED two months prior to the elective. You will need to contact either Lori (713) 745-2078 or Denise (713) 792-2696 to set this up. Charity will need to complete a letter in order for this paperwork to be submitted, so please send her an email with the time period of the elective, the name of the faculty, and the department which you will be rotating in. Please read and complete the paperwork at the following links:
    1. MDA Elective Overview
      MDA Elective Evaluation (This is for MDA ONLY)
    2. MDA Elective Application

  8. Ophthalmology - This rotation includes outpatient and inpatient ophthalmology clinics and hospital experience. This rotation will also help hone the resident’s skills in using the ophthalmoscope, common ocular emergencies, treatment and diagnosis of uveitis, keratitis, Wilson’s disease, Sarcoidosis, endopthalmitis and CMV retinitis to mention some.Contact Phyllis Rhodes at (713) 500-6003, or Phyllis.L.Rhodes@uth.tmc.edu

  9. Radiology- This rotation is done by residents who wish to improve their radiological skills in reading x-rays, CT scans and MRI, Mammograms, Barium swallows and ultrasounds. Special requests can be made to do interventional radiology at LBJ or Hermann hospital.
  10. Contact Lea Roberts at (713) 500-7643, or Lea.L.Roberts@uth.tmc.edu
  11. Sleep Medicine and PFTs- This can be done to learn different sleep study techniques and treatment of OSA and learning to interpret PFTs.
  12. Dr. Fred elective- Special rotation must be arranged with Dr. Fred. Involves Socratic Method of teaching, special discussions with Dr. Fred about reviewing articles found in the library, attendance at Dr. Fred’s morning reports and Dr. Fred Rounds. It also includes an end of the month evaluation with Dr. Fred and is allowed only for residents.
  13. Contact Dr Fred for information
  14. Evidence based medicine- This is a unique rotation offered only at UT Houston under the tutelage of Dr. Molony who will review and help the residents acquire expertise in evidence based critical review of literature following CASP guidelines. This can be undertaken by residents or interns and will mandate attendance at every Morning report. Clinical evidence based questions come up at every morning report and the resident/ intern is expected to review articles, do a Pubmeb or Cochrane database search and present a synopsis of these articles to the audience at Friday Morning report which will be evaluated and supervised by the chief residents and faculty including Dr. Molony.
  15.  Anesthesia Contact Jonetha Davidson (713) 500-6271, or Jonetha.A.Davidson@uth.tmc.edu
  16. Dermatology - Needs two months advance notification to reserve your spot. Fills up quickly.  Contact Donna Clanton (713) 500-8329, or Donna.R.Clanton@uth.tmc.edu
     
  17.  Pathology – Residents can rotate in any variety of the departments of pathology. Options include Heme Path with review of blood smears and bone marrow biopsies with pathologists and hematologist, Anatomic Pathology with review of gross/histologic specimens and tumor stains, as well as Blood Banking.

  18. Hospitalist - Contact Matthew Harbison, MD at 713-704-9389
    This is a 4 week rotation designed to provide residents with an accurate overview of the daily duties and practice style of a hospitalist, focusing on experience not service.  The first week will be self guided study of a curriculum covering billing, coding, practice models, etc. The remainder of the rotation will consist of 1 week of one on one medicine wards (non-teaching service), 1 week of observation unit, and 1 week of neurology consults or trauma consults.  The workload will consist of 10 total patients when on wards, and 8 total patients when on  consult services. These services will be replenished daily from the overnight pool of patients.  Grading will be based upon self-study quiz, attending feedback, and billing.  There is a maximum of 2 residents per month that may participate in this elective.