Graduates' Perspective

Graduates of our Family Medicine Residency program talk about how their experience at Group Health prepared them for their own medical practice.

Megan Melo, Class of 2009

I grew up as a "Group Health baby," so I was familiar with the integrated model of care before I started training in medical school. I did not consider Group Health seriously as an option for training until I spent a month here as a sub-intern in the residency. What impressed me most was how comfortable my faculty members were with providing care across all settings, how they used evidence to drive their practice, and how downright human and kind they all were. When I finished that month, I was impressed by how much I wanted to practice medicine in this same way.

Training within a working system like ours was absolutely the right choice for me. Not only did I work beside those same mentors, but I also got comfortable in forming collaborative relationships with our specialists, both in the hospital and the clinic settings. Because we are all within the system, I find tremendous support from our specialists to help with patient care, either with virtual consults that can prevent unnecessary visits, advice over the phone, and sometimes even wandering over to my clinic room to help me make a diagnosis. This support allows me to practice a higher level of care for many patients, and I cannot imagine practicing without it.

Since leaving the residency, I have remained at Group Health in part because of the support I feel as a primary care provider, as well as the opportunity to practice in the medical home model. As health care across the nation continues to spin out of control, I appreciate being given the time to address the preventive and chronic disease concerns of my patients at nearly every visit. I love that I have the freedom to deliver babies and see patients in clinic and precept in the residency and whatever else I can imagine. Our electronic medical record is a fantastic system, allowing for secured messaging with patients, easy documentation, and the ability to message specialists and colleagues for advice or care coordination. Overall, I feel like I am in the right place, at the right time, and even better, able to provide the right care.

Jill Hekman, Class of 2005

When I first visited Group Health, my gut reaction was "This is the type of medicine I want to practice." What has surprised me is how versatile the skills and style I learned at Group Health have been.

After leaving Group Health I moved to an urban underserved clinic in Milwaukee, Wis., as a professor in the family medicine department at MCW. I have now transitioned into the associate director position at the family medicine program, expanding my focus on the academic side working with residents and medical students. I work with a wide variety of patients, predominantly minorities and socioeconomically disadvantaged. I practice inpatient medicine, work in the ICU, deliver babies, and follow their growth and development. I have the chance to do home visits, group visits, and this year we even planted a small garden with some students from a nearby elementary school. With the background in evidence-based medicine and the strong research emphasis at Group Health I have even had the opportunity to be part of a national grant to improve geriatric education among family medicine residents.

When I think back to my time in residency, it was the wide variety of people in the faculty that allowed me to branch out in so many ways now. My mentors ran multidisciplinary clinics, gave national lectures, did research in clinical settings, and cared for patients from birth to death. They were honest about their own fears and insecurities, which showed me that practicing excellent medicine is not about knowing everything every time, but rather continuously improving, keeping an open mind, and being committed to your patients and your practice. Because of this example as well as the friendship and continued mentoring of so many at my residency "home," I have been able to do work I am truly proud of and honored to be a part of.

Steve Burrows, Class of 2001

Simply put, I had a wonderful time in residency. As a newly minted and somewhat naive physician, I hoped for training that would educate me in all facets of family medicine and give me the confidence to handle any situation. I was not disappointed. The curriculum is comprehensive, not only in what medical disciplines are covered but also with an eye on evidence-based medicine and psychosocial nuances of care.

My training has indeed made me a confident, well-rounded physician. I've gone to northern Australia to help East Timor refugees, provided emergency care at my nephew's lacrosse games, answered the call twice to "Is there a doctor on board?" and helped an epileptic patient at my own wedding. Since graduation, I've been practicing full time at Group Health. I have special interests in geriatrics and HIV care. I've recently been certified by the American Academy of HIV Medicine.

Finally not only was the quality of the education superb but the manner in which it was taught was great. The faculty were not interested in making copycat physicians of themselves. They respected my personality, views, and priorities, and nurtured me to become the best physician I could be. I'm proud to consider them my continued colleagues here at Group Health.

Kelii Gurfield, Class of 1998

Practicing patient-centered primary care in nontraditional settings oftentimes demands a considerable amount of creativity and flexibility on the part of the practitioner. Group Health's evidence-based training emphasis provides the intellectually rigorous foundation from which a clinician can formulate sound therapeutic approaches despite the constraints imposed by unorthodox operating environments.

I had no inkling during my residency that the idealism and patient-centered philosophy of care nurtured by the Group Health faculty would prove so applicable to my assignments a decade later working for the U.S. State Department in less familiar locations like Colombia, Iraq, and Germany.

On the other end of the applicability spectrum, however, whipping up a casserole dish of Dr. Heidrich's notoriously atherogenic Bean Dog Wellington recipe is a sure fire way to precipitate a major diplomatic incident across most of the Middle East. I would strongly encourage the residency to remove this item from the training curriculum or at the very least convert it to an elective option.

Sarah Hufbauer, Class of 1994

I've been working at the Country Doctor Community Clinic since finishing residency at Group Health Cooperative in 1994. I've always worked part time in various schedule arrangements (now 0.6) but have done a full load of obstetrics and inpatient medicine call.

I love thinking about medicine, about the patients we serve with both heart and evidence. As family physicians, we have the opportunity to be both compassionate and to use our reason and problem-solving skills to care for patients in cost-effective, practical ways. I also love team medicine where I can count on other staff around me helping me care for my patients.

Doing residency at Group Health was helpful for my maintenance of balance in my life, rigor in my thinking, and depth in my empathy for others. The faculty, both core and specialty, were tremendous in giving their best wisdom and teaching to us residents. I still have important bonds from my time there.