Career Development and Mentoring
Career development for our residents is an important emphasis of the program. While our graduates enter a wide variety of eventual careers, we support the decision making process in the following ways:
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Mentorship Program
The mentorship program for primary care residents has three main components:
- Peer Mentorship:
Incoming interns are paired with both a second and third year resident. Those pariings are made by the residents based on mutual career, recreational, and extracurricular interests.
- GIM faculty mentorship:
Interns are assigned a GIM faculty mentor at six months into internship. The residents meet with their mentors at least twice a year to review performance, progress, career goals etc.
- Program Director mentorship:
Interns will meet with the Primary Care Program Director at a minimum of twice per year. At these meetings, evaluations, career planning, and program requirements will be reviewed. More frequent meetings are encouraged as desired. - Research Mentorship:
As specific career goals or research interests develop during residency, assigned faculty mentors assist residents in choosing a second career or research specific mentor as needed.
- Peer Mentorship:
- Didactic Curriculum
During the spring of the second year and the fall of the third year, several sessions of the Wednesday morning didactic curriculum are devoted specifically to career choice. These include:
- Career panel- including representatives of academic, private practice, HMO, hospitalist, Indian Health Service, rural, etc. internists
- Getting a Job: Basic job search strategies including using web resources, curriculum vitae, letters of recommendation, etc.
- Evaluating an employment contract
- Career panel- including representatives of academic, private practice, HMO, hospitalist, Indian Health Service, rural, etc. internists
- Preceptorships
Preceptorships are an excellent way to explore career options.
- All second year primary care residents are required to do a preceptorship. This preceptorship can be in the Denver metro area or with internists in rural Colorado.
- Many third year primary care residents do an additional preceptorship to experience a specific potential job opportunity.