Family Medicine Woodland Hills Medical Center

Please also consult our residency brochure for more details about this program and its curriculum. Click here to view

Our hand-picked faculty is approachable, energetic and enthusiastic with faculty teaching appointments through UCLA. While in a community setting, our main focus is academic excellence through extensive didactic lectures, full spectrum patient care, and one-on-one teaching with attendings.

Covid-19

We have quickly adapted to and learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to work on a local and regional levels to meet the challenges of training in this new environment.  Our very highest priority is the health, safety and well-being of our patients and members, trainees, faculty, and staff including ensuring that we provide adequate personal protective equipment.

Unique features

• Unopposed program
• Family practice clinic located within steps of the hospital and specialty clinics
• UCLA – affiliated residency
  • Our faculty have UCLA academic appointments
  • Our residents receive a graduation certificate from both Kaiser Permanente and the UCLA School of Medicine
  • Medical students from UCLA and many other medical schools rotate with us on a regular basis
• Supportive environment
• Community service emphasis with community clinic assignments throughout the three years of residency training
• Multi-ethnic population with diverse socio-economic base
• Flexible and ample elective time
• Only six residents per year (18 total) allowing greater attention to individual resident needs
• Global Health Track  and Community Medicine Track option

Strong Academic Training

• Daily didactic noon conferences with catered lunches every weekday
• Daily morning teaching rounds on inpatient medicine
• Twice monthly medicine Grand Rounds
• Regular participation in hospital-wide education conferences including Drug Utilization and Ethics conferences
• Strong procedural, dermatology, and musculoskeletal training with dedicated resident dermatology, procedure and sports medicine clinics in our family practice department
• Residents receive training in the full range of office procedural skills including cortisone injections, endometrial biopsies, IUD & Nexplanon insertions/ removals, cyst excisions, toenail avulsions, punch biopsies, shave biopsies, and circumcisions
• Ultrasound rounds on inpatient medicine and several yearly workshops on clinical ultrasound
• Ample opportunities for research with assistance from a faculty research director
• Diverse patient population with complex medical problems

Excellent Resources 

• Fully integrated EHR with computerized appointment services, messages, medication refills, labs, imaging and referrals
• iPhones are issued to all residents and provide a wide variety of medical applications as well as Electronic Health Record (EHR) access and secure text messaging
• Resident offices equipped with desks and computers for each individual resident
• Up-to-Date access on iPhones and on the EHR
• All computers have access to MD Consult, Ovid, PubMed, KP Clinical Guidelines, Cochrane and DynaMed
• Majority of required rotations take place at our Woodland Hills Medical Center
• A large well-vetted drug formulary
• On campus inpatient and outpatient pharmacy services, including a 24 hours outpatient pharmacy. Our pharmacists are available 24-7 for questions and assistance regarding medications, dosing, etc.
• All radiology and lab services available on campus

Additional Highlights

• 100% resident pass rate on American Board of Family Practice exams
• Yearly educational stipends of $500 for 1st and 2nd year residents and $1500 for 3rd year residents
• One week available to attend an educational conference in the 3rd year
• Cost of USMLE Step3 and COMLEX Level 3 examinations fees covered for the interns
• California State Medical Licensure fees covered for initial and renewed licensure needs while in residency
• Excellent camaraderie among house staff and full-time academic faculty
• Family medicine faculty have offices that are adjacent to our residents’ offices. Our faculty have an open-door policy and are easily accessible
• All major medical and surgical disciplines available with accessibility to house staff
• Excellent preparation to go on to sports medicine, adolescent medicine, geriatrics, or hospice and palliative care fellowships
• For interested residents, great job opportunities within Kaiser Permanente upon graduation
• Many of our graduates have gone onto leadership positions in managed care, academia and community practice

Resident Wellness

Helping our residents maintain wellness and balance during their residency training is a priority for us. We believe that residents cannot realize their full potential without maintaining their personal well-being.  Therefore, we encourage our residents to participate in activities that promote their physical and emotional health during their three years of training.

As far as organized events, there is a yearly weekend retreat for all of the residents and faculty. In years past we have spent the weekend in locations such as Santa Barbara, Lake Arrowhead, San Diego, and Palm Springs to name a few. In addition to yearly bonding retreats for each class, we host a yearly Resident Wellness Day that is dedicated to educating our residents about importance of their personal wellness and giving residents time away from the medical center to bond with their fellow classmates. On a monthly basis, there is noon conference time dedicated to resident support. We also have monthly Balint sessions that are designed to further our understanding of the complex clinician-patient relationship.

Finally, our vacation schedule, along with research leave, educational leave and personal days afford our residents ample time to develop the important balance between work and life outside of medicine.