Frequently Asked Questions

Why Tallahassee?

Tallahassee offers a fantastic mix of capital city activity and surrounding rural charm—and this means both great quality of life as well as excellent clinical experience. With three universities (FSU, FAMU, TCC) and a metro population of 250,000, Tallahassee boasts a vibrant community of businesses, intellectuals, artists, young families and everyone in between.
Our residents enjoy hundreds of miles of trails; nearby beaches; fresh-water springs and rivers for swimming, kayaking, and fishing; a thriving arts district; ample community parks; a great local food and brew scene; and more. We are proud of our high standard but low cost of living compared to large cities.
Like the area’s majestic live oak trees, our program is rooted deeply in the community and offers broad-reaching solace—we have a 17-county catchment area and serve a wonderfully diverse population.

What support systems are available to residents?

The physical, mental and emotional well-being of residents is of upmost importance here at the Tallahassee Memorial FMRP; we work hard to foster a supportive environment. Some examples of our efforts include:

Residents sustain each other through our Big/Little sibling program for incoming interns
We offer annual retreats for each class to unwind and continue to build bonds
We have a Scribe Program; wherein resident physicians receive support during clinical encounters to assist in documentation and reduce that ever-growing burden
Resident classes meet monthly with our behavioral health team members for a peer support group for reflection and resiliency-building
Faculty attendings have an open-door policy and are always willing to offer guidance

What is the clinic like?

The Donald Zorn Family Medicine Care Center is a certified Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) located right on hospital property. We serve the largest Medicaid and Medicare population in a 150-mile radius, and also provide care for many students, young professionals and families.
Each resident is assigned to a station (A-D) and is paired with a nurse on their first day of clinic— they will work in that station with their nurse for all three years of residency, building an efficient care team and improving continuity for our patients.
PGY-2s and -3s benefit from our scribe program to ease the burden of clinical documentation. (We love it!)
Within our clinic we host not only typical primary care and acute visits, but also have specialty clinics staffed by specialists and FMRP residents such as prenatal care (with ultrasound), neurology, urology, cardiology, anti-coagulation, dermatology, gynecology, chronic care and more.

Is TMH “unopposed”? How does the Internal Medicine residency affect FMRP?

There are three medical residencies that serve at TMH: our Family Medicine program (hospital-sponsored) alongside two FSU-sponsored Internal Medicine (IM) and General Surgery residencies.
Patient volume and clinical diversity have been unaffected by the start of the IM residency in 2010, as our medicine teams operate completely independent of the IM residency. Our volume remains robust; there is plenty to go around!
We continue to care for pediatric, OB, and ER patients without “opposition.”
Experience on subspecialty rotations remains strong, due in part to the overall volume of services provided, as well as subspecialist’s enthusiastic participation in educating our residents.

What can I expect on the inpatient medicine service?

Our FM hospital service provides inpatient and consultative care for our large and well-established Family Medicine Clinic (in existence for 40+ years and with 13,000+ active patients) as well as “unassigned” admissions from the ED (shared in rotation with the IM Residency and the TMH Hospitalist service).
Adult medicine service consists of four teams of one intern and one senior resident (PGY-2 or -3), with two teams per attending physician.
Our attending physicians are FMRP faculty.
Overnight call/coverage works predominantly on a Night Float system, ranging from 2- to 7-nights in a row depending on the rotation. For enhanced learning and continuity with laboring patients, there are a handful of 24-hour call experiences on the OB rotation (4 in total), but otherwise there is no 24-hour call at TMH.

How much pediatric exposure can I expect?

Currently, 1/3 of our office population are pediatric visits; at TMH you will see plenty of primary care pediatrics and learn to care for routine illnesses in children.
We are proud that one of our FMRP faculty is the area’s only fellowship-trained pediatrician in adolescent health and eating disorders—and current President of the Florida Chapter of the AAP!
In addition to robust outpatient exposure, we also have wonderful inpatient pediatric training: four months (two first year, one second year and one third year), led by pediatric hospitalists. TMH is a large regional referral center, so our residents care for many “bread and butter” pediatric illnesses as well as less common/more exotic illnesses.

What kind of OB exposure can I expect?

Residents have extensive exposure to OB care as our residency provides care in Leon County as well as in five outlying rural counties. We care for a diverse and high-risk OB population; each year the residency is involved in over 2500 prenatal visits and 700 deliveries.
While we are proud of the lowest primary cesarean rate in the area, we nonetheless have plenty of surgical obstetric experience to offer.
Tallahassee Memorial FMRP is proud to care for expecting mothers alongside a skilled and caring midwifery team. In addition, TMH is a certified Baby Friendly hospital, a Centering Pregnancy site, and offers a variety of individual, and group, prenatal and postpartum care models that residents participate in.

What do residents go on to do after graduation? Do you have fellowships?

Our residents are well-trained to pursue almost anything they set their minds to, including but not limited to outpatient primary care, hospitalist medicine, emergency medicine and urgent care.
We have opportunities for our graduates to train in our own OB and HIV Medicine fellowships.
Many residents from Tallahassee Memorial FMRP have gone on to train in Sports Medicine, Geriatrics, Palliative Care and other fellowships at different locations around the country in outstanding programs.
Our curriculum offers robust experience in the inpatient setting to circumvent the need for further hospitalist training—many of our graduates go right into practice without fellowship.
Similarly, our outpatient and rural training provides a strong base for entering full-scope practice in resource-poor communities in need of skilled clinicians, something we are proud of.

Are there many opportunities to perform procedures?

Yes. Residents are required to demonstrate competency in many basic family medicine procedures and will have plenty of opportunity to develop this in a variety of settings.
For residents interested in learning procedures beyond the usual core family medicine requirements, additional experience is readily available through the emergency department, specialty clinics and operating rooms.

Does Tallahassee Memorial FMRP require research?

We require scholarly activity, in forms ranging from QI projects, Journal Club, Morbidity & Mortality presentations, lectures at noon conferences, case reports and formal research. Our residents enjoy performing independent research as well as participating in research projects being initiated by our faculty and others.

What opportunities are there for service outside of the hospital?

Residents volunteer their time/skills and serve the community through activities with FSU Cares, health fairs, FSU COM FMIG, education through local news stations/papers, and more.
Each year, there are multiple opportunities for international medical missions. Our residents have served in places such as Nicaragua, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and more.

What is your board passage rate?

We have had a 100% board passage rate for the past six years running and have consistently enjoyed very high passage rates over the past 40+ years.

Are there moonlighting opportunities?

Our PGY-2s and -3s (not visa-holders), once approved, can earn extra experience in our own training center’s extended hours clinic M-Sa, as well as in other TMH and local settings (urgent care, Behavioral Health Center med and psych intake, after-hours MRI, rural ERs and more).