Our Program

• What is the program's overall philosophy?

  Our mission is to train excellent clinicians by providing a rigorous curriculum and outstanding education. Additionally, our residents do research and participate in scholarly activities with the support of hospitalist and primary care faculty as well as specialty physicians in other departments. We are therefore an academic community hospital. CPMC is affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco as well as Dartmouth Medical School.

• How many residents are in the program?

  Each intern class is comprised of 14 categorical (three-year) positions , 14 preliminary (one-year) positions, and 3 preliminary-ophthalmology (one-year) positions. The total class size comes to around 60 residents in our Internal Medicine residency program.

• How do I apply for the program?

  Learn more about how to apply for the CPMC Internal Medicine residency program.

• What are the requirements for the residency program?

  Applications for Internal Medicine's Categorical (three-year) and Preliminary (one-year) residency programs must be submitted through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS).

  M.D. and D.O. graduates from U.S. schools may register for ERAS through their Deans' offices. The ECFMG serves as the Dean's office for all IMGs. A "Request for an ERAS Application Kit" is available on the ECFMG home page.

  Standard Application Requirements are: 

  • Standard 2022 ERAS application
  • Supplemental ERAS application (not mandatory but highly encouraged)
  • 3 letters of recommendation (one of them preferably the chair’s letter)
  • Personal Statement
  • Transcripts
  • USMLE Scores
  • Dean’s letter

  More information can be found here.

• What’s life like in San Francisco?

  San Francisco’s climate, surrounding landscape, and lively atmosphere are what draw people to the city. There is never a dull moment!

  For those who like outdoor activities, you can find people surfing, mountain biking, trail running, hiking, and sea kayaking. For those who love to eat, there are hole-in-the-wall restaurants, Michelin star ones, and everything in between. You can find almost any ethnic food in town.

  There are abundant local events including street fairs, concerts, theaters, and parades. Of course, one can simply take a deep breath and relax in the Golden Gate Park or by Ocean Beach.

  If you desire to go wine tasting, you can easily travel to Sonoma or Napa Valley. The closest ski area is only 3 hours away from San Francisco. The possibilities are endless!

• What are the annual residency salary and benefits?

  At Sutter Health, our employees are our most important assets, and we are fortunate to have attracted some of the most talented professionals. We strive to provide our employees with a highly comprehensive benefit package and extend these benefits to our residents.

  Salary, compensation, and benefits are commensurate to the residents’ current program year.

  *Disclaimer: This information does not apply to any employee who is in a collective bargaining unit represented by a recognized labor organization unless otherwise specified in a collective bargaining agreement.

• CPMC is an academic community hospital with a university affiliation. What does that mean?

  Our mission is to train excellent clinicians by providing a rigorous curriculum and outstanding education. Additionally, our residents do research and participate in scholarly activities with the support of hospitalist and primary care faculty as well as specialty physicians in other departments. We are therefore an academic community hospital. CPMC is affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco as well as Dartmouth Medical School.

• What is the environment like at CPMC?

  The culture here is collegial and nurturing. Our residents work hard in a supportive atmosphere, providing an environment that enables them to succeed and grow. We are a smaller size program of about 14 to 15 residents per class (except the intern class that usually has 14 to 15 categoricals and 14 to 15 preliminaries) so everyone gets to know each other very well. We’re like a big family!

• What is the patient population like at CPMC?

  Our hospital is a quaternary referral center, meaning that in addition to the exceptionally diverse local population in San Francisco, we care for patients who transfer to CPMC from outside hospitals to receive subspecialty care. The patient population is diverse culturally and socioeconomically. Given the large catchment area that we have, we see great breadth of cases, from common to unique diseases.

• How much time is spent in the primary care setting?

  Categorial interns and residents follow an “X+Y” rotation schedule, allowing them to have scheduled primary care continuity clinic blocks between inpatient rotations in a predictable pattern. Categorical interns and residents have 10 weeks of primary care clinic throughout the year, composed of dedicated two-week primary care rotation blocks as well as individual continuity clinic days scheduled during elective/selective rotations.

  Categorical interns/residents have their own panel of primary care patients that they follow over their time in residency training.

• How much time is spent in the MICU?

  The MICU rotation prepares our trainees well in caring for critically ill patients. Categorical interns and second year residents, and preliminary interns spend 4-6 weeks (average 6 weeks) in the MICU. Third year residents are on the MICU rotation for 4 to 8 weeks (average 6 weeks). The MICU rotation includes both day and night shifts.

• How much elective time is available?

  Categorical interns have 5 weeks of elective, and preliminary interns have 13 weeks of elective. Second and third year categorical residents have about 6-8 weeks of elective per year depending on the number of selectives they are scheduled for/complete during the year.

• How much vacation is there each year?

  Residents have a total of 4 weeks of vacation each year, split into two 2-week vacation blocks. Interns also have 4 weeks of vacation that is split into one 1-week vacation block and one 2-week vacation block; the last week of intern year is vacation for every intern.

• What ancillary services are available?

  We have excellent nursing, phlebotomy, respiratory therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, pharmacy, and radiology staff. We work very closely with them to provide the best care for our patients.

• Is an electronic health record used at CPMC? If so, which one?

  We use EPIC for the electronic health record.

• Are there opportunities to do research during residency?

  Absolutely. Our residents are encouraged to start or participate in research projects. Many residents submit abstracts and give poster presentations at Internal Medicine Conferences including the American College of Physicians and Society of General Internal Medicine. Residents have published articles in peer-reviewed journals. We have a Quality Improvement (QI) curriculum built into the primary care rotation as well as a QI elective available for residents who want one on one mentorship on any QI research projects. For those interested in pursuing fellowship, our residents do research in their department of interest.

• How are residents evaluated?

  Our program provides both informal and formal feedback to residents. Interns receive verbal feedback from their residents and attending physicians on a weekly to bi-weekly basis and at the end of a rotation. The same occurs for the residents.

  Web-based evaluation forms are provided to both interns/residents and faculty to be completed at the end of each rotation. The program director reviews the web-based feedback provided to interns and residents twice yearly.

• Does the residency program listen to resident feedback to make improvements to the program?

  Yes! Residents are members of committees for the residency program including the Curriculum, Wellness, and Education Committee. The Chief Residents also hold monthly resident feedback sessions for residents to provide their perspective on how their rotations, education, and experiences are going. CPMC’s program continues to improve year after year largely through the feedback of our residents.

• Do interns and residents ever work 24+ hour shifts?

  Interns and residents are never scheduled to work shifts that last as long or longer than 24 hours. The longest scheduled shifts are some night calls, which can start at 4:45 pm and end at 7:00 am the next morning, for a total of ~14-15 hours.

• What are the intern and resident caps on the major inpatient rotations?
  • On the medicine rotation, interns cap at 8 patients each and residents cap at 16 patients each.
  • On the MICU rotation, the team typically consists of 2 interns and 2 residents. The entire team caps at 12 patients. The ICU team can overcap if there are unstable floor patients who need ICU level care.
  • On the Cardiology rotation, the team typically consists of 1 intern and 1 resident. The team caps at 7 telemetry patients. There is no CCU cap.
  • On the Hematology-Oncology rotation (a single-resident service), the resident caps at 12 patients.