Section of Hospital Medicine

Education and Training

Training the next generation of physicians

The educational mission of the Section of Hospital Medicine within the Division of General Internal Medicine and Public Health at VUMC is two-fold: To yield expert clinicians and to produce teachers who will effectively train the next generation of physicians. 

The Section of Hospital Medicine offers faculty development workshops, CME lectures and experiential learning. We have presented several lectures on teaching in the hospital and created an educational curriculum within the section which includes the following series:  

  • Enhancing Teaching Effectiveness in the Clinical Setting: This interactive, workshop-based series equips faculty with a teaching framework that helps self-reflection, flexibility, and leadership as medical teachers.  
  • Top 10 Things Every Hospitalist Should Know About… This popular series recruits specialists throughout the various medical and surgical specialties at Vanderbilt to review the most significant clinical pearls that interface with Hospital Medicine and to explore solutions to challenging consult questions. These sessions have facilitated communication among specialties, enhanced collegiality and supplied focused updates in various areas of clinical medicine.  
  • In the literature: This monthly, case-based session focuses on reviewing and critically appraising new literature that pertains to the care of hospitalized adults. 

Hospitalists with an active teaching role

Faculty in the Section of Hospital Medicine take an active role in teaching housestaff and medical students in a variety of settings. Hospitalists interact with trainees on the general medicine services and medicine consult services at both Vanderbilt University Hospital and the Nashville VA.  

The following lists some of the medical education activities that Hospitalist faculty engage in:  

Internal Medicine Clerkship 

  • Clinical curricular lectures/activities (e.g., clerkship core lectures, diagnosis and therapeutics course, physical diagnosis course)  
  • Student morning report  
  • Weekly clinical reasoning small group exercises  
  • Weekly evidence-based diagnosis rounds  

Residency and Fellowship  
Hospital Medicine has opportunities for residents and fellows to train with faculty.    

  • CCQI research grant  
  • Hospital Medicine inpatient resident service  
  • Medical student shadowing on inpatient service
  • PROgRESS T32, the Vanderbilt Patient/ pRactice Outcomes Research in Effectiveness and Systems Science (PROgRESS) T32 Training Program
  • Resident elective on procedure service  
  • VISTA, the Vanderbilt Interdisciplinary Hospital-based Systems of Care Research Training ProgrAm (VISTA) T32 Training Program


Specialized Hospital Medicine training programs 

  • Faculty Training: Opportunities are available through the RAPID-LHS Center, Realizing Accelerated Progress, Investigation, Implementation, and Dissemination in Learning Health Systems
  • Fellowship Positions:  We seek highly qualified applicants for Hospital Medicine fellowship, which provides structured education in quality improvement methodologies and mentored training in health services research through the Veterans Affairs Quality Scholars Program. Interested candidates should apply through the VA Quality Scholars program, specifying an interest in Hospital Medicine. Once accepted into the program, you can be assigned to our Section for fellowship work. Fellows are also assigned to Hospital Medicine during their studies in the Masters in Public Health program. Fellows will be prepared for a successful academic career as either a physician-scientist or a clinician-educator.