Didactics

Simulation Curriculum

UCLA has a state of the art simulation center, complete with realistic ICU, operative, inpatient ward, and outpatient clinic rooms. Our affiliate, the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, also has a simulation center where our residents practice interdisciplinary communication skills in high-fidelity rapid response scenarios. Numerous simulators are used including high fidelity mannequins, task trainers (central lines, lumbar puncture, intraosseous lines, etc), and virtual reality trainers (TTE, TEE, endoscopy, etc). Our high fidelity scenario based curriculum covers all three years of residency. Interns have a half day small group session (3-5 residents) focused on management of common, but acute situations. At the R2 retreat at the beginning of the second year, all PGY2 residents receive a day of instruction in code blue leadership as well as central line and intraosseous line placement. Throughout the PGY2 and PGY3 years, interdisciplinary "in-situ" simulation sessions occur with med/surg nurses, ICU nurses, critical care transport team members, and anesthesia residents. For senior residents with an interest in medical education, there are also opportunities to participate in a simulation elective to go behind the scenes and learn the principles of simulation instruction.

Procedure Teaching Services

All of our residents rotate through the Procedure Teaching Service during their PGY-1 year. Residents receive 1-on-1 training from a hospitalist specially trained in bedside procedures including central lines, ultrasound guided IV placement, paracentesis and lumbar puncture. Additional time is spent in our state of the art high fidelity simulation center to further hone these skills, standardize best practices, and reduce complications. 

Teaching Conference Overview

Across our sites, we have a strong tradition of innovative teaching conferences that occur throughout the day. Our formal conferences include:

• Morning Report (West LA VA, RR UCLA)
• Noon Conference (RR UCLA, SM UCLA, West LA VA, Sepulveda VA)
• Dept. of Medicine Grand Rounds series at both West LA VA and RR UCLA
• Simulation case-based teaching on common emergency scenarios (West LA VA, RR UCLA)
• Clinicopathology conference: a clinical unknown is presented to expert faculty with input from radiology and pathology
• APEX conference (West LA VA, RR UCLA): a series of clinical situations involving on-the-spot clinical reasoning with input from faculty and residents
• Outpatient morning report: half day focused on outpatient topics each +1 week Wednesday morning
• Tuesday Curriculum: half day curriculum during some +1 weeks around themes including:
  • Inclusive Excellence (microaggressions, inclusive learning environments, structural racism, and social determinants of health)
  • Medical education
  • Narrative medicine
  • Leadership skills & team management
  • Simulation and procedure training

Ronald Reagan UCLA Teaching Conferences

At RR UCLA, a variety of interactive conferences are held each weekday at noon. Some highlights:

• Schema Day: weekly conference in which clinician educators teach an "approach to" common problems or chief concerns
• Illness Script Day: focus on specific pathologies, often led by subspecialists
• Resident Report: weekly/bi-weekly case presented by residents, facilitated by chief residents, focused on clinical reasoning and real-time management
• APEx: case presentation focused on clinical reasoning with discussion across VA and UCLA Campuses
• Sub-specialty Series: various lectures given by fellows and faculty from IM sub-specialties
• Interdisciplinary Series: examples include lectures from our speech pathology, PT/OT, pharmacy colleagues
• In Situ Simulation: residents on service participate with their teams in a high fidelity peri-code/code simulation
• Master Resident Clinician Series: residents solve interesting cases adapted from journals with an emphasis on fundamentals of diagnostic reasoning
• Outpatient Noon Conference: monthly series in which a chief resident "interviews" an outpatient physician regarding a particular topic
• Rapid Fire Journal Club: 3 landmark trials on a theme are presented by residents, with analysis by expert faculty discussants

West Los Angeles VA Teaching Conferences

At the West Los Angeles VA, a variety of interactive conferences are held twice a day on weekdays (morning report and noon conference). Some highlights:

• APEx: case presentation focused on clinical reasoning with discussion across VA and UCLA campuses
• VA GLA Case Discussion: interactive resident report with facilitation by a chief resident or hospitalist
• VA GLA Clinical Unknown: case presented by a resident to a blinded faculty member to showcase clinical reasoning
• VA GLA Medicine Podcast Club: interactive cases based on a podcast episode relevant to clinical practice
• VA GLA Spaced Repetition: morning report recap of high yield learning points from recent cases to reinforce knowledge retention
• In Situ Simulation: residents, pharmacy residents, and nurses participate in a multidisciplinary peri-code simulation
• Faculty Lecture Series: by hospitalist, emergency medicine faculty, and infectious disease faculty on common topics
• Asynchronous teaching on digital platforms such as YouTube
  • Check out IMFastFacts, an online platform started by our WLA VA faculty. 5-min, bite-sized teaching with one-page infographics