Internal Medicine Electives

McGovern Medical School Internal Medicine Residents

Outside Rotators
At this time, the McGovern Medical School Internal Medicine Residency program does not allow outside residents to do elective rotations.

Please remember
All electives must be approved with a form submitted to the Residency Office two months before the elective begins!

Once approved, please complete the correct Elective Approval Form below, email the Residency Coordinator Team, or bring it to the Residency Office. This will ensure that you are entered correctly into New Innovations and your evaluation is assigned to the correct attending. Failure to have an evaluation correctly assigned and completed in a timely manner will result in no credit for the elective.

Internal Medicine Clinical Elective Rotation Approval Form (Form accessible in Canvas)
Internal Medicine Research Elective Rotation Approval Form (Form accessible in Canvas)

Research electives must be conducted on-site or receive the Program Director and Coordinator’s approval in advance for alternate arrangements.

For other information not listed below, please contact the Residency Office at 713-500-6526.

Please take a copy of the appropriate form with you for your attending to fill out if your elective is not at McGovern Medical School.

Note for all electives
You must send the Residency Coordinator Team (IM) or Phyllis Martin (MedPeds) with the above Elective Approval Form in advance to let them know what elective you are doing with the signature of your attending.

Away Electives
Away rotations will be reviewed on a “competitive” basis for a limited amount of residents in good standing. You will need to meet the following requirements for application. Contact the Residency Office for the Away Application and Associated Instructions for processing.

Need to have made initial arrangement with sponsoring program
Selection will be based on feasibility of proposed project and contribution to the resident’s professional development
Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, must be six months in advance of elective dates

Consult/Subspecialty electives
These are non-call months designed to be done by residents who have special interests in these subjects. These months will enhance the clinical and/or research training at both intern and resident level. They also facilitate finding mentors and establishing a rapport with them to do goal directed research. The experience is enhanced by specialty conferences, journal clubs and city-wide conferences that can be attended if residents want to do so.

Ambulatory medicine
Cardiology clinic
Cardiology consults
Cardiology- Echocardiography (*4 weeks only)
Cardiology- Electrophysiology
Nephrology Consults
Critical care nephrology
Renal Transplant Service
Endocrinology Consults
Calcium and Mineral metabolism clinic
Reproductive Endocrinology Clinic
Geriatrics Consults
Palliative Care Consults
Pulmonary Consults
Infectious Diseases Consults
Gastroenterology Consults
Hepatology Consults / Liver Transplant Service
Hematology Consults
Oncology Consults
Rheumatology Consults
Critical Care Elective
Hyperbaric Medicine/Wound Care @ MHH
Wound Care w/ Dr. Halphen at LBJ
Hospitalist Medicine Elective
MDACC Cancer Prevention and Survivorship Rotation (*upper level residents /4 weeks only)

HIV clinic/ Thomas Street Health Center
This elective is designed for residents who would like to enhance their understanding of HIV, opportunistic diseases and current treatments.

Research elective
Research in various fields is available and highly encouraged. This elective requires prior meetings with a research mentor, finalization of a research projects, IRB approval and writing of a hypothesis at least 1 month prior to the commencement of the elective. This protocol needs to be followed and emailed in writing to the associate program directors before commencement of the elective. There are several regional medicine conferences where an abstract may be presented to obtain the complete experience of the elective.
Global Health Electives– This is a special month designed for residents interested in pursuing global health electives. Visit Canvas for more detail.
Critical Care Nephrology– This is a special month designed for learning of the concepts in critical care issues of Nephrology patients and it involves rounding on patients at different ICUs in Hermann Hospital.
Emergency room rotation– This rotation can be done either at the intern or resident level. This provides an opportunity to see different patients in the critical stages of their ER presentation. Shock room experience will give exposure to multiple procedures including intubation, administration of paralytics, Quinton catheter placement, central venous and arterial line placement, suturing and trauma workup among others. The residents will also gain expertise in use of bedside ultrasound techniques available in ER. They will also be able to work in close association with Surgery and Obstetrics and gynecology and Radiology residents. The work in ER is in terms of shifts of 11 hours and at least 14 shifts must be done to be given credit for this month. Dr. Carlos Roldan will be in charge of this rotation. Residents are expected to attend Wednesday ER conferences held at Medical School.
MD Anderson Cancer Center clinics– This elective can be arranged to observe and participate in care of ambulatory oncology patients. This needs to be arranged at least 2 months in advance in writing with prior approval of the supervising faculty and the program director.
MD Anderson Cancer Center research– This elective can be arranged to formulate and start a research project in the field of resident’s choice. This needs to be arranged at least 2 months in advance in writing with prior approval of the supervising faculty and the program director. Some residents have done clinical and/or basic science research including projects involving GI malignancy, Neurooncology, Dermatopathology, Leukemia, Investigational Cancer therapeutics to mention a few. There is extensive paperwork involved that must be SUBMITTED two months prior to the elective. You will need to contact either Lori 713-745-2078 or Denise 713-792-2696 to set this up. The Residency Office will need to complete a letter in order for this paperwork to be submitted, so please send her an email with the time period of the elective, the name of the faculty, and the department which you will be rotating in.

Ophthalmology – This rotation includes outpatient and inpatient ophthalmology clinics and hospital experience. This rotation will also help hone the resident’s skills in using the ophthalmoscope, common ocular emergencies, treatment and diagnosis of uveitis, keratitis, Wilson’s disease, Sarcoidosis, endopthalmitis and CMV retinitis to mention some. Contact Sharona Washington at 713-500-6003, or [email protected]
Radiology– This rotation is done by residents who wish to improve their radiological skills in reading x-rays, CT scans and MRI, Mammograms, Barium swallows and ultrasounds. Special requests can be made to do interventional radiology at LBJ or Hermann hospital. Contact [email protected] (713-566-6164)
Sleep Medicine and PFTs– This can be done to learn different sleep study techniques and treatment of OSA and learning to interpret PFTs.
Evidence based medicine– This is a unique rotation offered only at UT Houston under the tutelage of Dr. Molony who will review and help the residents acquire expertise in evidence based critical review of literature following CASP guidelines. This can be undertaken by residents or interns and will mandate attendance at every Morning report. Clinical evidence based questions come up at every morning report and the resident/ intern is expected to review articles, do a Pubmeb or Cochrane database search and present a synopsis of these articles to the audience at Friday Morning report which will be evaluated and supervised by the chief residents and faculty including Dr. Molony.
Anesthesia – You will need to contact Dr. Travis Markham to get approval to begin this elective and provide the Residency Office with the signed approval form. 30 day notice is needed, and the elective is only available January-June.
Dermatology – Needs two months advance notification to reserve your spot. Fills up quickly. Contact the Dermatology Coordinator 713-500-8329
Pathology – Residents can rotate in any variety of the departments of pathology. Options include Heme Path with review of blood smears and bone marrow biopsies with pathologists and hematologist, Anatomic Pathology with review of gross/histologic specimens and tumor stains, as well as Blood Banking.

Hospitalist Elective -Directed by Dr. Jacqueline Okere and Dr. Amee Amin
2 or 4 week rotation designed to provide residents with a broader scope of Hospitalist Medicine Practice which would include, but not limited to Hospitalist Orthopedic/Trauma, Neurosurgery/Stroke, and Observation Unit Service Lines as well as Triage experience with the ER. In addition to clinical experience, didactic sessions will be included; examples include preoperative medical evaluation, Billing/Coding, Consultation service, as well as reviewing various practice models and career pathways within Hospitalist Medicine. please contact Dr. Jacqueline Okere ([email protected] ) and Dr. Amee Amin ([email protected]) if interested in this elective.

MDACC Cancer Prevention and Survivorship Rotation Upper level residents only, 4 weeks required