The mission of Internal Medicine Residency Program is to provide the highest quality of education and training for physicians in Kuwait, and to enable graduates to meet the health care needs of Kuwaiti population.

1. LIST OF CanMEDS CORE COMPETENCIES. Adopted from the updated 2015 CanMEDS.
1. Medical Expert
• Practice medicine within their defined scope of practice and expertise.
• Perform a patient-centered clinical assessment and establish a management plan.
• Plan and perform procedures and therapies for the purpose of assessment and/or management.
• Establish plans for ongoing care and, when appropriate, timely consultation.
• Actively contribute, as an individual and as a member of a team providing care, to the continuous improvement of health care quality and patient safety.
2. Communicator
• Establish professional therapeutic relationships with patients and their families.
• Elicit and synthesize accurate and relevant information, incorporating the perspectives of patients and their families.
• Share health care information and plans with patients and their families.
• Engage patients and their families in developing plans that reflect the patient’s health care needs and goals.
• Document and share written and electronic information about the medical encounter to optimize clinical decision-making, patient safety, confidentiality, and privacy.
3. Collaborator
• Work effectively with physicians and other colleagues in the health care professions.
• Work with physicians and other colleagues in the health care professions to promote understanding, manage differences, and resolve conflicts.
• Hand over the care of a patient to another health care professional to facilitate continuity of safe patient care.
4. Leader
• Contribute to the improvement of health care delivery in teams, organizations, and systems.
• Engage in the stewardship of health care resources.
• Demonstrate leadership in professional practice.
• Manage career planning, finances, and health human resources in a practice.
5. Health Advocate
• Respond to an individual patient’s health needs by advocating with the patient within and beyond the clinical environment.
• Respond to the needs of the communities or populations they serve by advocating with them for system-level change in a socially accountable manner.
6. Scholar
• Engage in the continuous enhancement of their professional activities through ongoing learning.
• Teach students, residents, the public, and other health care professionals.
• Integrate best available evidence into practice.
• Contribute to the creation and dissemination of knowledge and practices applicable to health.
7. Professional
• Demonstrate a commitment to patients by applying best practices and adhering to high ethical standards.
• Demonstrate a commitment to society by recognizing and responding to societal expectations in health care.
• Demonstrate a commitment to the profession by adhering to standards and participating in physician-led regulation.
• Demonstrate a commitment to physician health and well-being to foster optimal patient care.
2. Principal Learning Activities
1. Core Conference Lecture

A weekly series in which core topics in internal medicine are presented. The topics begin each year with an Emergency Lecture Series covering urgent and emergent management of a variety of medical disorders, and proceed through a core curriculum in Internal Medicine. Specifically, lectures are strategically organized by the academic subcommittee in collaboration with core faculty from other subspecialty departments, following the North American Curriculum.

2. Board Review

One of the chief residents is assigned a set of MKSAP questions associated with the week’s lecture series, and he/she prepares an interactive review session in which housestaff answer questions using an anonymous electronic response system, and the answers are then reviewed in detail with discussion of the concepts and rationale underlying the correct answer to the question.

Additionally, R5 residents are scheduled for a 2-week block exclusively dedicated for board study. In this block, one of the chief residents will lead an interactive review session. Each group will meet separately on daily basis for 6-hour block.

3. Morning Report

This is a daily meeting where admissions from the previous night are presented followed by case discussion. Residents rotating on inpatient medicine service and subspecialty services (nephrology, cardiology, neurology, rheumatology, hematology, oncology, infectious diseases, endocrinology, pulmonology, gastroenterology) present specific cases of commonly seen presentations, with emphasis on the diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

This portion of the conference provides residents the opportunity to participate in discussions with peers and attendings to better develop a fundamental framework for approaching specific patient complaints while also learning clinical clues and nuances that aid in diagnosis and management.

4. Noon Conference

An hour of protected educational time is provided twice weekly at the end of the working day from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm. These lecture series include:

1. Clinical Lectures

Clinical lecture’s focus on the various specialty medicine topics for nine months of the year, i.e., Cardiology, Nephrology, Endocrinology, etc. These conferences are presented by subspecialty Clinical Tutors from various respective medicine specialties. All residents on inpatient floor teams, as well as those on ambulatory block rotations and electives, are expected to attend.

2. Grand Rounds

The Department of Medicine hosts Grand Rounds once a month. Lectures are presented by both core faculty and visiting professors and cover a variety of clinically relevant and thought-provoking topics in internal medicine. All residents on inpatient floor teams, as well as those on ambulatory block rotations and electives are expected to attend.

3. Medical Jeopardy

Medical Jeopardy is held once a month. Residents form teams and compete against each other for bragging rights.

4. Morbidity and Mortality Conference

The M&M Conference is held occasionally throughout the year. A case, with an adverse outcome is discussed and thoroughly reviewed. Faculty members from various disciplines are invited to attend, especially if they were involved in the care of the patient. The discussion focuses on how care could have been improved.

5. Journal Club

Journal Club is held bimonthly. Residents and faculty critically appraise a selected article; the article is discussed in an evidence based medicine format. A senior resident will be asked to lead the discussion of a recent, clinically-impactful article addressing the goals of the article, its methods, results, and significance to clinical practice. The objective is for residents develop a conceptual framework for approaching medical literature and assessing its relevance to practice.

5. Attending Rounds

Daily usually from 9:00am to noon, patients are presented to the attending physician on the inpatient medicine service. Bedside teaching is regularly included in the rounds. Occasionally specialty cases are presented for discussion depending upon the interests of the attending physician. Learning activities include the physical exam, a discussion of particular medical diseases, psychosocial and ethical themes, and management issues.

6. Tutor Supervision

Residents learn procedures under the direct supervision of an attending physician during some rotations. For example, in the Medical Intensive Care Unit the Pulmonary /Critical Care attending or attending critical care anesthesiologist observe the placement of central venous lines, endotracheal intubation and other procedures pertinent to internal medicine practice.

7. Direct Patient Care

As integral part of Medical Teaching Unit, residents rotating on MTU admit their own patients and are responsible for the ongoing care including management and discharge. The attending physician supervises patient management.