Clinic Curriculum

To integrate residents into the rural community and help establish Chehalis Family Medicine as their home base, continuity clinic starts at Chehalis Family Medicine beginning in their first year. Residents have full days in clinic each week during hospital rotations, even in intern year, providing opportunities to establish longitudinal relationships with their patients early on.

Who do we care for?

At Chehalis Family Medicine we care for patients from all over Lewis County. Most patients seen in our clinic are on Medicaid or Medicare insurance plans. Our patients have highly complex medical conditions in addition to significant social stressors which provides residents excellent opportunities to learn to care for a broad range of pathology and utilize community resources, while building confidence in doing so.

.

Specialty Clinics

Residents participate in several specialty clinics within Chehalis Family Medicine including Procedure Clinic, Addiction Medicine Clinic, Primary Care Psychiatric Consult Clinic, Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment Clinic, Transitional Care Management (post-hospital follow-up) Clinic, Rapid Access Clinic, and Medicare Wellness clinic. These allow for dedicated focus toward particular skill sets while maintaining continuity with our clinic patients. During a clinic week, a resident may be scheduled for one or more of the following specialty clinics.

Procedure Clinic

Procedure clinic occurs weekly. Residents in their second and third year of residency rotate through procedure clinic. Beyond this specialty clinic, residents receive additional procedural experience on gynecology, orthopedics, obstetrics, general surgery, and emergency medicine rotations. Residents gain independence in performing procedures by completing Basic Skill Qualifications to ensure they have the skills they need to graduate. Additional elective opportunities are available.

Procedures performed in our clinic include:​

Addiction Medicine Clinic

Residents all receive buprenorphine training early in their first year. Residents will participate in this clinic all three years of residency as part of their training in addiction medicine.

We are the first clinic in Lewis County to prescribe Suboxone to patients on state insurance. Our residency has been instrumental in helping the local judicial system implement a program that includes medication for opioid use disorder as an option for recovery. Residents get experience in treating patients with suboxone, Sublocade and vivitrol.

We also treat Hepatitis C in collaboration with the University of Washington Project Echo. We are the only Primary Care Clinic in Lewis County, prescribing Hepatitis C treatment.

Primary Care Psychiatry Consult (PCPC) Clinic

Residents can refer their continuity patients to this clinic when they need further assistance managing psychiatric conditions and medications. During this clinic, residents act as facilitators during appointments between patients and a psychiatrist which gives residents extra training in this area. Even though our psychiatrist recently moved out of the area, we have been able to continue with this clinic through a telemedicine model as it has been such a wonderful resource for our patients and residents.

Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT) Clinic

DO residents participate in weekly OMT clinics starting in their first year. This clinic is precepted by our DO faculty to help residents continue to fine tune their skills in manipulation. OMT didactics and workshops are also available for both DO and MD residents. MD residents who desire to use OMT in their continuity clinic are supported in picking up new skills. DO residents can also perform OMT in their own continuity clinics.

Transitional Care Management (TCM) Clinic

Appointments during TCM clinic are designed to facilitate transition of care from the inpatient to the outpatient setting. 2nd and 3rd year residents see patients in TCM clinic on a clinic day during their inpatient medicine rotations. This makes it possible for residents to have continuity with patients they have cared for in the hospital.

Rapid Access Clinic (RAC)

Rapid Access Clinic is held twice weekly for urgent care-type visits. This specialty clinic gives residents additional experience with acute issues and improves patient access to care for urgent needs. In addition to RAC, many residents can spend elective time to spend in our local urgent care clinics.

Medicare Wellness Clinic

Medicare Wellness clinics are done as part of the dedicated geriatric rotation weeks in the 2nd and 3rd year and are also interspersed longitudinally. These clinics allow focused time for residents to hone their skills in providing annual Medicare Wellness visits for their geriatric patients.