Mission Statement

The primary mission of the Yale Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program is to train houseofficers to attain the knowledge, skills and attitudes to become excellent general internists who are committed to upholding the highest ethical and professional standards of medicine. We seek to train physicians from diverse backgrounds to become leaders and agents of change in whatever setting they choose for their career. Faculty are actively involved as teachers, role model clinicians, scholars, advisers and mentors who are committed to helping trainees identify the niches of medicine in which they will be most successful and satisfied.

Housestaff learn to provide compassionate, respectful, patient-centered, cost-effective, and evidence-based care in a variety of academic and community settings. The primary instructional strategy is experiential learning, which occurs through the residents’ meaningful patient care responsibility and graduated autonomy. Through direct observation and feedback from faculty and peers, trainees first learn the fundamentals of patient care. Over time, trainees develop the skills of self-evaluation and reflective practice in order to improve their own skills throughout their career. Graduates are prepared to enter the practice of general internal medicine or to pursue fellowship training, either in general internal medicine or the subspecialties of internal medicine.

As members of the Yale Primary Care Residency we affirm our beliefs and aspirations as follows:

• We believe in social justice, that there are undeniable human rights including the right to health care and the dignity of every human no matter who they are or where they live.
• We believe in being good stewards of limited medical care resources.
• We believe it is just as important to train excellent general physicians as it is to cultivate a zeal for the well-being of a community and the individuals that create that community.
• We believe in providing compassionate and thoughtful care to every patient.
• We believe in developing leaders in medicine, regardless of whether they are involved in community care, health policy, or academia.
• We believe in allowing for and assisting with the development and pursuit of individual passions.
• We believe in a biopsychosocial approach to patient care and recognize that social and psychological determinants play large parts in our patient’s health.
• We believe in primary care and that for primary care to succeed we must allow for and pursue innovations in both the access to and delivery of health care.
• We believe in the value of hard work and the value of education.
• We believe in fostering a sense of friendship, community, and collegiality amongst ourselves.
• We believe in striving to improve ourselves so we can improve the world.