Ambulatory Care

Clinic Hours
Weekly scheduled clinic hours at the United Family Practice Health Center are:

Monday and Friday 
9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. 

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday 
9:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Community Medicine
Our program is strongly committed to the importance of community medicine. To this end, we have a longitudinal rotation of one half-day approximately every two weeks in all three years of the residency, with increased time as the residency progresses. The purpose of the longitudinal process is to allow for residents to immerse themselves in areas of community medicine. This includes collaborating with the Public Health Department in areas of epidemiology, disease prevention, or special clinics such as STD or TB clinics. It also allows residents to be immersed in the Homeless Clinic Project and Face-to-Face Clinic.

We also have an outreach worker who facilitates significant resident involvement within the community through the Community-Oriented Primary Care (COPC) process. With this approach we are able to identify areas that require health attention. United Family Practice Center also maintains its long-standing relationship with the community through the West Seventh Community Center, many home visits, and sponsorship of community-wide health forums.

Each half day, the resident clinic is precepted by one to two physicians from United Family Practice Health Center or the larger Allina system, as well as a behavioral scientist. 

Office Practice
Each resident is a clinical physician at United Family Practice Health Center. The resident follows a panel of patients and families throughout their residency. During the three years of residency, each resident spends one to five half-days per week in the clinic. Two months in the second year are spent in a rural setting. In the third year, a resident may elect a two-month rotation off-site (i.e. in a rural setting or other area of interest).

During the time away from United Family Practice Health Center, the resident works in concert with other resident team physicians, faculty, nurses, health assistants, administrative personnel, community outreach worker, patient educator and behavioral scientist to provide continuity of care to his/her patients.

Preceptors, in family medicine, behavioral science, outreach and patient education are available during patient care hours. The preceptors are drawn from faculty and staff, and other family physicians within the Allina network.

A preceptor reviews continuity of care, the bio-psycho-social-ethical model, preventive health care, and quality of family medicine practice issues. Patients are followed by their own resident physician when hospitalized. 

Each resident is paired with other residents and/or staff physician to ensure continuity of care during vacation or off-site rotations. Home and nursing home visits are an integral part of ambulatory care training.

Psychiatry
The psychiatry component is taught in a longitudinal fashion at the family medicine center and on the family medicine inpatient service with psychiatric input. A consulting psychiatrist is available for Balint Group at the family practice center.

A block rotation in mental health and chemical dependency occurs in year two, which collaborates with United Hospital’s crisis intervention assessment team, counseling with our behavioral scientist and a local C.D. treatment center.

Bio-Psycho-Social-Ethical Medicine
The bio-psycho-social-ethical model, which sees people in the context of their total being, including family and community, is core to family medicine. Knowing how to communicate and interact with patients within this context is key to the development of the family medicine resident. A primary goal is to learn patient-physician interaction.

Our core faculty has a commitment to teach the patient-physician relationship. Behavioral science concepts are a cornerstone of case presentations, conferences, family medicine grand rounds, and are fully integrated into the community-oriented primary medicine component of our residency. Formal counseling occurs in the clinic, and opportunities for residents to learn and enhance their counseling skills are part of their family practice center experience.

Electives in behavioral science, including counseling, community organizing and specific topics such as hypnosis can be tailored to each resident’s individual needs.

The bio-psycho-social-ethical model includes physician well-being. Resident support groups and Balint Group, with a facilitator, convene on a regular basis. Individual counseling for residents is arranged, as necessary, to fit into the resident’s schedule.