Internal Curriculum Rotations

*Each rotation occurs in a four-week (28-day) block

• Night Float is completed in 2 week (14-day) blocks
• Vacation has the option to be 2 week or 4 week blocks

* Ward call is every four days.

Research and Publications

Residents are required to actively participate in at least one research undertaking to be presented at the Annual Kern Research Forum, and at the Solomon Scholars Meeting every year at the UCLA main campus. Several of these studies have been presented in national meetings and published in major journals.

Internal Medicine Residency Rotations

General Medicine Wards

The General Medicine Wards and Inpatient Consultation service take place at Kern Medical.

We have four teaching teams, each led by a full-time UCLA faculty member in Internal Medicine, with 1-2 senior residents (PGY-2 or PGY-3), 1-2 interns, and medical students. Admission caps are five for interns and ten for senior residents, ensuring safe workloads and meaningful learning. Teams with 1 intern have a patient cap of 14 patients and teams with 2 interns have a patient cap of 20 patients. Residents average ~60 hours per week with a guaranteed day off.

Our patient population is diverse in both pathology and demographics, giving residents exposure to a wide range of complex cases. Residents learn to balance autonomy with close faculty supervision while collaborating with medical subspecialties, surgical services, psychiatry services, and the emergency department.
In addition to the teaching teams, we have two non-teaching teams that absorb additional patients to ensure caps are never exceeded. These teams also care for patients who are medical stable and optimized for discharge but face non-medical barriers to leaving the hospital. Once patients are no longer of educational benefit to the teaching teams, they are transferred to these services, helping maintain the right balance between education and service for our resident teams.

Intensive Care Unit

Critical Care training occurs in the Intensive Care and Direct Observation Units at Kern Medical under the close supervision of full-time UCLA critical care faculty.
Three ICU teams rotate call every three days, supported by night float coverage. Residents gain expertise in managing critically ill patients, performing invasive procedures, leading resuscitations, managing mechanical ventilation, and stabilizing hemodynamics. The rotation is academically structured and includes nationally accredited training in fundamental and advanced life support.

Ambulatory Care

Residents rotate through Kern Medical’s subspecialty clinics, gaining exposure to outpatient medicine, referral patterns, and preventive care. Clinics include Pulmonary, Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Infectious Disease, Nephrology, Endocrinology, Oncology, Neurology, Hepatology, HIV/Immunology, Rheumatology, and the nationally recognized Coccidioidomycosis (“Cocci”) Clinic, established by the late Dr. Hans Einstein.

As part of this rotation, residents also spend one half-day per week in Shelter Medicine, providing care for patients experiencing homelessness. This experience allows residents to gain valuable skills in addressing healthcare disparities while working with some of the most vulnerable populations in our community.

Cardiology

The Cardiology rotation combines inpatient and outpatient experiences under UCLA faculty supervision. Residents gain proficiency in interpreting ECGs, echocardiograms, and stress tests, and observe procedures in the diagnostic lab and cardiac catheterization suites.

Night Float

Night float residents admit and evaluate patients overnight under UCLA faculty supervision. This independent but supported experience builds confidence in triage, acute management, communication, and system-based practice.

UCLA Electives

Residents may complete UCLA-affiliated subspecialty rotations of their choice, typically at Olive View, Harbor-UCLA, or Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. Options include but are not limited to rheumatology, endocrinology, cardiology, nephrology, gastroenterology, allergy/immunology, pulmonary/critical care, and hematology-oncology. Housing is provided in a UCLA-Kern Medical furnished apartment on the Westwood campus.

Bakersfield VA

At the local Veterans Affairs clinic, residents gain valuable experience in ambulatory care and preventive medicine while learning to address healthcare issues unique to veterans. Faculty are UCLA-affiliated, and residents enjoy weekday hours with weekends off.

Emergency Medicine

At Kern Medical’s Level II Trauma Center—the only one between Los Angeles and Fresno—residents encounter a wide range of acute medical and surgical conditions across all age groups. Faculty supervision ensures both high-quality patient care and robust procedural training.

Infectious Disease

Supervised by internationally recognized UCLA Infectious Disease faculty, residents rotate through inpatient consults and outpatient clinics (ID, Cocci, Hepatology, HIV/Immunology). Training includes hands-on lab experience with gram stains, AFB smears, and cultures.

Nephrology

Residents gain concentrated experience in renal disorders through inpatient consults and outpatient clinic, supervised by UCLA nephrology faculty.

Neurology

Residents rotate on inpatient and outpatient neurology, with training in stroke care, epilepsy monitoring, EEG/EMG interpretation, and neuroimaging. Kern Medical is a designated stroke center with continuous EEG monitoring.

Hematology/Oncology

Supervised by UCLA oncology faculty, residents care for inpatients and outpatients with cancer. Training emphasizes diagnosis, staging, management, and complications of cancer therapy, supported by an infusion center, oncology pharmacy, and advanced practice providers.

Pulmonary

Residents gain experience in pulmonary medicine through inpatient consults and outpatient clinics. Training includes interpretation of CXRs, CT scans, pulmonary function tests, and exposure to chronic disease management and bronchoscopy.

Gastroenterology

Residents learn to manage gastrointestinal disorders such as GI bleeding, hepatitis, pancreatitis, and hepatobiliary disease under UCLA faculty supervision, with exposure to endoscopic procedures.

Electives at Kern Medical

Across three years, residents complete six elective blocks tailored to career goals. Options include Addiction Medicine, Hospitalist Medicine, Radiology, Research, Antimicrobial Stewardship, Psychiatry, ENT, Allergy/Immunology, Anesthesiology, Orthopedics, Immediate Care, Discharge Clinic, and subspecialty electives.

Continuity Clinic

Continuity Clinic is a cornerstone of resident education. Residents follow their own patient panels in General Internal Medicine clinic one half-day per week on ward months and two half-days per week on ambulatory months (none during ICU, ED, night float, or UCLA electives). Residents provide ongoing care to a culturally and socioeconomically diverse population under the supervision of UCLA-appointed faculty, gaining skills in longitudinal patient management and preventive care.