A Message from Dr. McDonald, Program Director

On behalf of South Carolina's largest family medicine residency program, our capable group of residents, and dedicated faculty, let me welcome you to our web site. By your presence here, you are obviously interested in the care of the whole person within the context of Family Medicine.

I graduated from this program in the mid 1980’s. After 14 years of both private practice, followed by directing an uninsured inner city clinic in Tennessee, I returned to what I love best - teaching. I can speak for my entire faculty when I say we are all dedicated to excellence in preparing young physicians to be caring and competent family doctors. I am very proud of our program's heritage. Established in 1970, it was one of the earliest such family medicine residency programs to be accredited in the nation. 400 resident graduates later, we boast a 94% board pass rate. Our graduates practice in all four corners of the United States and Canada and we attract our applicants from these same diverse areas. It is within each highly motivated class of residents that our true strength lays. As I talk with these past graduates, one theme emerges – CONFIDENCE.

CONFIDENCE to see and treat a wide variety of people and problems. Our program is a community-based residency, but we blend the best of community with an in-depth university style training. Our residents are taught by some of the best Family Physicians, Internists, Pediatricians and Obstetricians in the Upstate. Because we are the primary care residency at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center (we have a Transitional and a Surgery training program as well), our residents have superb clinical access to a diverse group of patients. Our surgical and specialist partners welcome our residents and provide them with excellent experiences in specialty care and procedures.

CONFIDENCE to care for Obstetrical patients. For those with an interest in OB, we offer one of the best Family Medicine experiences in the Southeast. You work with and learn from family physicians, fulltime and community obstetricians, the county's only two perinatologists, nurse midwives and a third year OB/GYN resident from the Medical University of South Carolina. The experience is broad and the training is unexcelled!

CONFIDENCE to care for Women’s Health. Wait a minute; didn’t I just talk about OB? Yes, but not all Family Medicine residents pursue OB after graduation. But we ALL see female patients and what better way to understand this half of your patient population than to be immersed in an environment such as this? I, for one, was not fortunate enough to use the OB skills I trained for. But I will never regret the Women’s Health experiences I was taught and still use to this day!

CONFIDENCE to care for Pediatric and Adolescent patients. I wish I had received the exposure and training our residents now receive in the care of our infant, child and adolescent population. Four outstanding, fulltime Pediatric faculty, one nurse practitioner and 2 Pediatric ICU specialists are available for our residents’ education. For those who wish, an elective in Neonatology is also available in our Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The care of children is also paramount in the Center of Family Medicine. Over 30% of our patients are under the age of 18!

CONFIDENCE to care for the adults with little to many chronic medical issues. I was once told by a near-graduating resident that he now felt confident enough in his medicine skills that he could be placed anywhere in the world and feel comfortable being a Family Doctor! Our residents are privileged to care for their outpatient adult medical panel, those on our Family Medicine in-patient service, Internal Medicine in-patient service, and their multiple specialty out-patient experiences. Several of our residents have gone on to practice as Hospitalists both locally and as far away as Canada. Our in-patient experience is second to none; so good that we have started the 13th Family Medicine Hospitalist Fellowship in the nation this year. Training will be led by one of our Internal Medicine faculty, herself a Hospitalist. Many of our graduates practice in out-patient only clinics. They repeatedly tell us that they better understand the needs of their patients who return from the hospital because of their excellent training here.

CONFIDENCE in the care of patients with behavioral health issues. A unique focus of our program is Behavioral Medicine. Any practicing family physician will tell you that one-fourth to one-third of all the patients they see have psychological, psychiatric, or sociological roots as the origin of their difficulties. Our program is centered on the hub of Behavioral Medicine. You have a two-month required rotation in the second year, which will formally give you superior training in one of the core curriculum differences in Family Medicine training versus any other primary care specialty.

CONFIDENCE to care for the elderly and end of life patients. One of our core Family Medicine faculty is also boarded in Geriatrics and Palliative Care. We have a tremendous experience with nursing home education and Hospice Care available for our residents. 17% of our Center for Family Medicine patients are over the age of 65. Most of our graduates, me included, feel very comfortable with geriatric and palliative care.

CONFIDENCE to practice is a small or rural town anywhere in North America. Our program is fortunate to have a rural tract located 13 miles away in the small town of Chesnee, S.C. Two residents each year are selected to complete their second and third year continuity clinic in this setting. Obviously, the competition is intense each year, but residents have opportunities to rotate there during the intern year and as an elective. Another aspect of rural care is the ability to care for the urgent and emergent patient. Our medical center has one of the busiest Emergency Departments in the state of S.C. (90-100,000 visits/yr.). This modern facility helped elevate us to a Level 1 Trauma Center that reaches people throughout the upstate of South Carolina and into southern North Carolina and Eastern Georgia.

CONFIDENCE in knowing I can strive for excellence. We have a tradition of excellence in the quality of our residents and the teaching they receive. One of our faculty says it best, “You can always better your best”. Teaching is a tradition for the medical staff of Spartanburg Regional Medical Center. This has been a teaching hospital for over 60 years. Spartanburg Regional Medical Center is an outstanding tertiary referral center with a long history of medical education of which it is most proud. Our hospital is also considered a leader in patient care and education in the state of South Carolina. Those that volunteer to assist you - either through consults, community-based rotations, or just to answer questions and lend a helping hand includes many private practice physicians that enjoy teaching. We encourage those whose heart and motivation is in teaching to be involved in our residency program.

CONFIDENCE that you have made the right decision to train here. I invite you to take a close look at this remarkable program in this wonderful institution nestled in the beautiful foothills of South Carolina. Hiking – 45 minutes away; Boating and fishing – less than one hour away; Ocean – only 3 hours away; Asheville or Charlotte – one hour away. But the true heart of any program is its people. I invite you to come and meet some of the finest men and women with whom I have ever had the privilege of working. Our residents represent the future leaders and practitioners of this most magnificent specialty. They and our faculty and staff are the heart and soul of what is truly one of the strongest programs in the United States.

We love what we do, we love where we work and learn, and we look forward to sharing this true treasure in Family Medicine with you. I am CONFIDENT you will find what you are looking for in our program. I did!

Robert McDonald, MD