Training Sites

Fletcher Allen Health Care, located in Burlington, Vermont, is the regional referral center for a population base of approximately 1 million people.  Because of its renown as a tertiary care center, the reputation of its faculty, and its distinction as an academic health center serving Vermont and Northern New York, patients with a variety of complex and interesting medical problems are referred to the Medical Center from this wide geographic area.  Fletcher Allen Health Care is also the main community hospital for Chittenden County, Vermont.  The blend of state of the art facilities, broad regional referral, and community hospital practice offers an unusual combination of primary care and tertiary referral experiences.  Trainees care for patients with a wide spectrum of common medical illnesses as well as evaluate and manage patients with more unusual illnesses from the referral population.

Medical Center Campus

The Medical Center Hospital of Vermont Campus is a major tertiary and primary care facility with 562 beds and over 23,000 admissions per year.  The Medicine Health Care Service consists of 160 beds divided among general medicine, subspecialty services and intensive care settings.

General Medicine Inpatient Service

All patients admitted to the medicine teaching service are admitted to General Medicine teams.  With the exception of patients cared for by the Hematology/Oncology faculty, patients are not segregated on individual subspecialty services.  Each of the four General Medicine ward teams consist of one G2 or G3 resident, two G1 residents, a senior medical student acting intern, and two third-year medical students.  Each team cares for no more than twenty-four patients with an admission limit of five new patients per intern per long call period.  Residents are guided in their patient care by a highly skilled, dedicated, and diverse faculty.  Residents rotate call every fourth night on the General Medicine inpatient service.  One night float resident and one night float intern covers the General Medicine inpatients daily from 7pm-7am.

Medical Intensive Care Unit

The Medical Intensive Care service is based in a 21 bed ICU used for both Medical Intensive Care and Coronary Intensive Care.  Each of the two MICU teams consists of one G2 or G3 resident, one G1 resident and, on some months, a senior medical student acting intern.  Residents learn the pathophysiologic basis of disease and how to manage critically ill patients with a variety of disorders.  The Unit is supervised by fellows and attending staff from the Pulmonary /Critical Care Medicine Unit.  Rounds and didactic sessions occur daily with these individuals.  Residents have overnight call every fourth night, with a night float resident coming in to help out five nights a week from 10pm-7am.

Cardiology / Coronary Care Unit

The Cardiology/Coronary Intensive Care service cares for patients in both the ICU and a separate 55 bed telemetry floor.  The service is staffed by two house staff teams, each comprised of one G2 or G3 resident, one G1 resident, and on some months a senior medical student acting intern.  Full-time faculty members from the Cardiology Unit supervise residents and direct daily didactic Teaching Attending.  Residents care for patients hospitalized with a broad range of cardiac conditions.  Residents have overnight call every fourth night, with a night float resident coming in to help out five nights a week from 10pm-7am.

Emergency Room

The Emergency Department is one of two Level 1 regional trauma centers in Northern New England and the first to achieve both pediatric and adult patient certification by the American College of Surgeons.  It is the major emergency facility for Chittenden County, Vermont.  All residents will spend one month during their first year in the Emergency Department.  There they will see a vast array of medical illnesses as well as an appropriate selection of patients with surgical, orthopedic, and gynecological conditions.  The first year resident generally makes the initial patient assessment under the supervision of a full-time Emergency Medicine faculty member.

Ambulatory Care Center

Fletcher Allen Health Care’s new outpatient facility, the Ambulatory Care Center (ACC), officially opened in Fall 2005.  The ACC houses the outpatient laboratory and radiology departments as well as many of our outpatient specialty clinics, including the Vermont Cancer Center.  It is also the new “front door” to all inpatient and outpatient services on the Medical Center Campus.  The ACC is connected to a new, large parking garage and the new joint Fletcher Allen/University of Vermont College of Medicine Medical Education Center, including the Dana Medical Library. 

University Health Center Campus

Residents participate in a weekly continuity clinic starting at the beginning of their intern year.  The resident community-based clinic is located at the University Health Center (UHC) campus, across from the Medical Center Campus.  General Internal Medicine faculty precept the residents in a highly systems-based problem-oriented approach to patient care.  At each site residents develop a close working relationship with the General Internal Medicine faculty, nurse practitioners, and physicians assistants. 

Vermont Cancer Center

The Vermont Cancer Center (VCC) is one of only thirty-nine National Cancer Institute designated comprehensive cancer centers in the country.  The VCC is dedicated to providing compassionate clinical care and conducting state-of-the-art hematology and oncology research.  For more information, please visit the Vermont Cancer Center website.

Cardiovascular Research Institute

The Cardiovascular Research Institute at Fletcher Allen and The University of Vermont is dedicated to reducing the incidence, morbidity, and mortality of heart and vascular diseases through improving prevention, diagnosis and treatment.  Its specific objectives are to elucidate the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for and identify targets for treatment of heart muscle impairment, coronary athersclerosis, and altered coagulation, fibrinolysis, and inflammation.  For more information, please visit the Cardiovascular Research Institute website.

Veterans Affairs Clinic

The VA outpatient clinic is located at Fort Ethan Allen in Colchester, about 10 minutes from Fletcher Allen Health Care.  It serves the primary health care needs of veterans in the Burlington area.  First year residents spend a portion of their primary care month working at the VA outpatient clinic.