Internal Medicine Residency Lubbock

Residency Rotations and Scheduling

PGY1
The intern year is designed to provide a comprehensive experience in general internal medicine. PGY1 residents are supervised by upper level residents, the chief residents, and attending faculty. On general internal medicine services, the PGY1 resident has primary responsibility for patients and is expected to actively participate as a teacher of junior and senior medical students assigned to the resident/faculty team. The PGY1 schedule includes 30 working days of leave.

PGY2
The PGY2 year is designed to provide the resident with increasing responsibility, which includes leading the health care team, supervising the inpatient care of acutely and chronically ill patients, and making decisions regarding a patient's need for hospital admission. It includes general internal medicine inpatient rotations plus subspecialty rotations of the resident's choosing. The PGY2 resident has a primary teaching role for assigned medical students and first-year residents. PGY2 residents have 30 working days of leave.

PGY3
The PGY3 resident is given maximum house staff responsibility in the care of general internal medicine and subspecialty patients. The year is designed to increase the resident's total patient-management skills. The resident serves as a first-line consultant for the junior house staff and medical students. The resident serves periodically as a general internal medicine consultant for other services in the hospital and supervises the admission of patients to the internal medicine services. The third year resident has major bedside and didactic teaching responsibilities for medical students and assigned junior house staff. The PGY3 schedule includes 30 working days of leave.

Call Schedule

On the General Medicine wards, our teams have a resident and one to two interns.  The maximum of admissions to the call team is 10 new patients to the service cap of 14 patients, whichever comes first. Call is every 4th day. No patients are admitted by the post-call team. The "pre-call" team may admit one new patient and the "sister team" (team that is 2 days from long call) may admit two new patients. At 9 p.m. the on-call senior resident goes home and a night float senior resident covers from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. This resident is responsible for assisting with overnight admissions.

In the MICU, our team has one senior resident (day/night) and four to five interns. The senior resident does 2 weeks of MICU days (no overnight call) and then 2 weeks of night float. Call for interns is every fourth or fifth day. The Senior is responsible for overnight admissions to the MICU and supervising the Night float intern.

Board Review - Value packed lectures with emphasis on ITE objectives, board testing techniques and review of multiple choice questions.

House Staff Meeting - A monthly meeting of all TTUHSC residents sponsored by the office of GME. This meeting serves to update house staff on important institutional issues. Elected officers of the house staff serve as liaisons on many institutional committees.

Weekly Report - A case is prepared by a resident in advance of the conference. Emphasis is placed on oral presentation, work-up, and differential diagnosis. The resident delivers a brief, updated aspect of the presentation topic.

Business of Medicine - Emphasis on billing and system based practices of clinical internal medicine.

Patient Safety - Case-based medical conference that emphasizes challenges or adverse outcomes associated with system interactions in medical care.

Journal Club - Residents discuss selected articles. Emphasis is on commentary and critical appraisal of the literature.

Grand Rounds - These are conducted by the Department of Medicine and other institutional faculty as well as visiting professors. Topics include advances in basic and clinical knowledge in many fields on Internal Medicine.

Morbidity and Mortality - A noon conference series where third-year residents present specific cases for presentation under the supervision of a faculty member.

Subspecialty Conference - Each subspecialty division is assigned to a particular month and faculty from that subspecialty give a series of 3 to 4 case-based, interactive conferences.

Resident Benefits

Please visit our GME office for detailed salary and benefit information here.

• Medical, vision, and dental insurance provided for resident. Family partially covered by institution.
• Worker's Compensation Insurance
• Professional Liability Insurance
• Free Parking
• 30 Days of Leave (PTO)
• Educational stipend of approximately $1,500.00 (combined over three years of training). 
• Annual ACP membership
• Annual In-Training Exam
• ACLS Renewal
• 3 white coats provided
• Up to $800 for travel annually for presenting scholarly activity
• Educational Leave Days:
  • PGY 1 = 5 days
  • PGY 2 = 10 days
  • PGY 3 = 10 days

Residency Program Leave Policy

Teaching Sites

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

TTUHSC educates students, provides patient care and conducts biomedical and clinical research. We graduate the most health care professionals in the state of Texas. Nationally recognized for innovative programs, academic achievement, and our cutting-edge research, we are training the next generation of highly qualified health professionals. To date we have trained more than 42,000 health care professionals who are serving patients and driving medical discovery in tangible, life-changing ways – both for the 10 million people in our immediate service area and around the world.

University Medical Center

University Medical Center (UMC) is a 500-bed hospital. It is a public, non- profit facility that serves as the primary teaching hospital for the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. UMC also includes a children's hospital
with Level IV NICU, a family-centered birth center, a regional burn center, and the region's only Level 1 Trauma Center. Wile at UMC, TTUHSC Family Medicine residents take care of hospitalized adults & children, work in the
critical care units, and provide family-centered maternity care in labor & delivery.

Residency Clinics

Resident Continuity-of-Care Clinic

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center's residency program provides primary continuity-of-care experience in the ambulatory internal medicine clinics. All residents spend one half-day per week seeing their own cadre of patients. A nurse is assigned to each resident. This resident/nurse team provides for a quality continuity of care experience for the resident's  patients and promotes team building and professionalism. This system allows the resident to follow the evolution of disorders typically seen by the  internist, to observe the response to outpatient therapy, and to understand the unique comprehensive health care needs of ambulatory patients. Experienced full-time attending faculty supervise the ambulatory training and provide on-site consultation and patient care discussions. There are computers with internet search access and Up To Date®.

Clinic educational conferences are scheduled during clinic twice a month. Core ambulatory topics will be covered with emphasis on reading recent literature, reviewing practice management and reviewing board questions.

VA Outpatient Clinic

Senior residents rotate at the Lubbock Veterans Affairs (VA) Outpatient Clinic. This rotation is one month and provides a valuable outpatient medical experience in a government run managed care system. Residents perform walk-in evaluations of adult patients with a variety of medical diseases with varying complexity and severity. The VA outpatient clinic in Lubbock is a very new facility that offers state of the art diagnostic equipment and electronic medical records. Residents are supervised by full-time VA physician staff.

Ambulatory Care Clinic

Senior residents participate in this one month ambulatory rotation. The rotation is designed to give rotating residents the experience to competently evaluate subspecialty patients under the supervision of a board certified subspecialist. This clinic is scheduled Monday through Friday. 

The following clinics are included:

• Allergy
• Oncology.Hematology
• Gastroenterology
• Pulmonology
• Cardiology
• Chart Review
• Endocrinology

Urgent Care Clinic

Senior residents participate in this one month outpatient rotation. The rotation is designed to give rotating residents the experience to competently evaluate and manage ambulatory patients with acute medical problems. This clinic is scheduled each afternoon from Monday through Friday. The resident is supervised by an experienced, full-time faculty member. The morning clinics on this rotation provide the resident with unique outpatient experiences to enhance their medical training, give them a broad medical fund of knowledge, and prepare them for the future practice of internal medicine. The following clinics are include:

• Preoperative Evaluation Clinic
• Pulmonary Hypertension Clinic
• Chart review

Procedural Experiences

Internal Medicine Residents will learn the indications, contraindications, complications, limitations, and develop technical proficiency in the following procedures:

• ACLS
• Arterial blood sampling
• Arterial line placement
• Arthrocentesis
• Bone marrow aspiration
• Central line placement
• Endotracheal intubation
• Lumbar puncture 
• Paracentesis
• Thoracentesis
• Venous blood sampling

Optional training can occur with the following procedures:

• Pulmonary artery catheterization
• Elective cardioversion
• Treadmill exercise testing

Thank you for your interest in our program.

The mission of the Texas Tech Internal Medicine Residency is to train compassionate and dedicated internists through a balanced approach to academic rigor and clinical diversity within a supportive, collegial environment. We emphasize camaraderie, teamwork, and clinical innovation while preparing residents to enhance the health of Lubbock, West Texas, and Eastern New Mexico's diverse patient populations. We are committed to providing individualized training tailored to each resident's career interests, promoting clinical autonomy alongside structured learning, and prioritizing scholarly research and personal/professional well-being.

Specific aims of our program include:

• Providing comprehensive internal medicine exposure to prepare residents for independent practice or subspecialty fellowship, as well as success in the American Board of Internal Medicine certifying exam.
• Continuously improving through frequent and thorough program evaluations.
• Structuring residency training to support personal growth and well-being.
• Modeling professionalism to instill a strong sense of responsibility toward patients, peers, and society among our residents.

We will prepare you to seamlessly transition to the next level of training or employment. 

Because the selection of a residency program is a major decision and requires careful consideration, we welcome the opportunity to provide any details about our program that would assist you in your decision-making process. We appreciate your interest in our program and encourage you to visit with us to discuss residency opportunities at TTUHSC.

J. Drew Payne, DO FACP
Program Director
Associate Professor
TTUHSC Internal Medicine Residency Program