The Emergency Medicine experience at VCMC is both focused and longitudinal, providing residents with comprehensive training in acute care. Each year, residents complete a dedicated ER block for concentrated exposure, while evening and weekend shifts during other rotations ensure consistent skill development. As the primary ER resident, you’ll assess and stabilize patients under the supervision of experienced ER staff physicians, gaining valuable procedural experience and point-of-care ultrasound training.

PGY-1 residents complete a 3-week night-float block, working alongside PGY-3s to build foundational skills. PGY-2s take on a dedicated daytime ER block, gaining additional confidence in preparation for their senior responsibilities. The experience culminates with the PGY-3 "Night ER Doctor" rotation, a 3-week block where the resident functions as the primary ER physician under the supervision of an in-house attending, enhancing leadership and decision-making abilities.

Additionally, residents cover weekend ER shifts throughout several rotations, ensuring ongoing exposure to emergency care and honing their ability to manage a wide variety of urgent cases. This balanced and progressive experience prepares our residents to handle the fast-paced and high-stakes nature of emergency medicine with confidence.

At VCMC, residents play a central role in every delivery, as well as all antepartum and postpartum care. During the day, a PGY-1 resident is "on deck," working closely with both a family physician and obstetrician for supervision and hands-on teaching. Overnight, a PGY-2 or PGY-3 manages the OB floor, with family physicians and obstetricians available for consultation and on-site support when needed. This progressive responsibility allows residents to independently manage labor and perform deliveries, building both confidence and competence. Residents also participate in neonatal resuscitations with in-house NICU staff, providing essential hands-on experience in newborn care.

Postpartum care is managed as couplets, meaning the resident who delivers the baby will care for both mother and newborn until discharge, fostering continuity of care. Every C-section is performed by a resident with supervision from an obstetrician or a fellowship-trained family physician, and residents can sign up for additional (paid) C-section call. Motivated residents have logged over 100 operations. Residents also scrub into gynecologic surgeries 3-4 days a week, serving as primary operators for procedures such as cesarean deliveries, tubal ligations, diagnostic and suction D&Cs, and more.

On outpatient days, residents rotate through our OB-GYN and high-risk OB clinics, with an optional experience at Planned Parenthood. Women’s health and maternity care are integral to family medicine, and residents are privileged to play a key role in one of the most meaningful moments in a family’s life. With about two-thirds of our graduates incorporating obstetrics into their practice and approximately 30% obtaining C-section privileges, our program offers a strong foundation in obstetrical care.

PGY-1 and PGY-2 residents complete 6-week OB-Gyn and Couplet Care rotations, while PGY-3 residents serve a 3-week block as chief of service. PGY-2 and PGY-3 residents also provide 1.5 weeks of night float coverage for the service.

At VCMC, a dedicated team of three residents provides care for all inpatient pediatric patients under the supervision of a full-time pediatric hospitalist and a group of specialist pediatricians affiliated with Children's Hospital LA. In addition to managing a wide range of general pediatric conditions, residents also care for patients admitted by a pediatric hematologist-oncologist and the cystic fibrosis center. They are also involved in caring for patients in our PICU, gaining valuable critical care experience.  As the only inpatient pediatrics unit in the region, VCMC cares for patients with a wide variety of pathology.

Outpatient training is equally strong, with residents rotating through the on-campus Pediatrics Diagnostics Center, where they work alongside both generalist and specialist pediatricians. Elective rotations in the NICU further broaden the pediatric experience. While on inpatient medicine, residents also assist with overnight pediatric admissions, providing a longitudinal aspect to their pediatric education.

Residents gain exposure to well-child care, developmental assessments, sports participation physicals, adolescent medicine, and parent education. Subspecialists from Los Angeles provide care locally, giving residents exposure to a diverse array of pediatric pathology without needing to leave Ventura. Additionally, the robust pediatric population in our continuity clinic offers ongoing experience, with pediatricians present a few days a week to supervise residents managing their own patient panels.

Residents complete one block of pediatrics in each of the PGY-1 and PGY-2 years, and two blocks in PGY-3, ensuring comprehensive training in pediatric medicine.

We recognize that many conditions encountered in family medicine are best treated with surgical interventions, and our residents take on the role of primary surgery residents while on service. On call days, residents manage all surgical admissions, scrub in on emergent cases, and lead trauma codes. They also provide postoperative care for general surgery, neurosurgery, bariatrics, urology, and trauma patients, with midlevel providers assisting to ease the rounding load.

Outpatient surgical training includes rotations in plastics, urology, ENT, wound care, and a "lump & bump" clinic for office-based procedures. We believe that family physicians should be well-equipped to manage surgical diseases, and our approachable surgeons take pride in teaching our family medicine residents. During the rotation, residents gain confidence managing a wide variety of conditions, including trauma, cholecystitis, thyroid nodules, breast lumps, appendicitis, bowel obstruction, lower GI bleeding, lymphadenopathy, subcutaneous masses, and more.

Residents complete one block of surgery each year, with an additional three weeks of night float during the PGY-2 year, providing a solid foundation in both inpatient and outpatient surgical care.

Our sports medicine training is led by a sports-medicine trained core faculty member who runs a dedicated clinic in the Academic Family Medicine Center (AFMC). We have strong ties to the local community, staffing Friday night high school football games, rugby matches, and local running events, providing residents with hands-on experience in event coverage. Additionally, each resident rotates through our on-campus orthopedics clinic, receiving focused training in orthopedics and sports medicine.

During this rotation, residents gain valuable skills in reading X-rays, managing fractures, performing joint injections, and providing post-operative orthopedic care. They work closely with adult and pediatric orthopedic surgeons, sports medicine physicians, podiatrists, and physical and occupational therapists, receiving one-on-one mentorship. While on ER rotations, residents also gain experience reducing and splinting fractures, further honing their skills in acute orthopedic management.

The program includes six dedicated weeks of orthopedics and sports medicine in the PGY-1 year and an additional three weeks in the PGY-3 year, ensuring residents are well-prepared to handle a wide range of musculoskeletal and sports-related conditions in their future practice.

Residents at VCMC benefit from a dedicated "ambulatory selective" block, allowing them to tailor their training by choosing from a variety of specialized experiences, including cardiology, diabetes, immunology/oncology, dermatology, psychiatry, neurology/rehabilitation, and addiction medicine. The on-campus medical specialties clinic provides convenient access for both patients and residents, and the same specialists who consult in our hospital and advise on continuity clinic cases welcome residents into their practices.

Our program emphasizes active learning, so residents are not just observing but are fully engaged in managing patients alongside faculty who are committed to teaching. These selective experiences contribute to the six months of electives required by the ACGME, providing residents with the opportunity to deepen their knowledge and skills in areas of personal interest while enhancing their overall training in family medicine.

The Academic Family Medicine Center (AFMC) is where residents truly become family physicians. Located on the VCMC campus, this clinic serves as the heart of the continuity experience and is the resident's "home" throughout residency. AFMC has four suites, each with 7-8 exam rooms, organized around a nursing station supported by a medical secretary, clinic assistants, and a registered nurse. Residents are assigned to a home suite, working with fellow residents and staff to see patients 2-4 half days a week.

Teaching at AFMC is guided by full-time family practice faculty with years of experience precepting residents. We emphasize continuity of care and a sensitive, patient-centered approach, key principles of family medicine. Behavioral sciences are also integral to patient management. Additionally, local community family physicians work as preceptors, sharing their "real world" experience to round out the residents’ education.

Many patients are invited into the practice by residents from their rotations in the ER, OB, pediatrics, and medicine clinics, or inpatient services, while others are inherited from graduating residents. The clinic serves a diverse patient population, with the primary mission of providing high-quality care to the underserved, including many with public health insurance or no insurance. About 20% of AFMC patients are county government employees, ensuring a wide range of experiences treating people from all walks of life in a welcoming and well-equipped environment.

Continuity is at the core of the AFMC experience. Patients view their resident physician as their personal doctor, and every effort is made to ensure continuity, even with last-minute appointments. The suite's nurses also play a key role in maintaining patient continuity. Residents have the opportunity to follow their own patients if they are admitted to the hospital, and they deliver and care for their maternity patients, continuing care for both the baby and family in the clinic. This strong focus on continuity is essential to the development of residents into fully trained family physicians.

Women's health is a major part of the AFMC experience. Residents manage prenatal care for maternity patients, perform deliveries, and continue postpartum care for both mother and baby. In addition, residents gain hands-on experience with ultrasounds, IUD placements, endometrial biopsies, colposcopies, and other gynecologic procedures.