St. Louis GME Family Medicine

How to Apply

We seek residents with diverse prior experience and future goals. Here’s how you can apply.
 

1. Application Process - Submit your application through ERAS (Electronic Residency Application Service). We participate in ERAS program signaling.

2. Application Review - We'll notify you once we've reviewed your application. Successful applicants typically demonstrate a) clinical competence, b) growth mindset, c) team mentality and d) community-mindedness. Applicants should have an actual or anticipated date of medical school that's on or prior to June 1 of the year they intend to enter residency. We welcome graduates of medical schools located in the United States and internationally. We do not sponsor H-1 or J-1 visas.

3. Interview - If selected, you’ll participate in an interview to learn more about how Mercy can support your professional goals. We offer virtual and in-person interviews. You should select the interview modality that best suits your strengths and preferences.

MFM-STL is ACGME accredited with Osteopathic Recognition. In addition to incorporating osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMT) into their continuity clinics, DO and MD residents participating in osteopathic recognition (a) run weekly OMT clinics with DO faculty, (b) offer OMT to hospitalized patients, (c) serve as table trainers for bimonthly OMT didactic workshops, (d) facilitate osteopathic journal clubs and (e) self-assess their OMT competency with practice board certification exams. Residents participating in osteopathic recognition graduate with distinction by the American Osteopathic Association.

MFM-STL is proud to offer the option of advanced ACGME-accredited training. Select residents desiring additional expertise in a focused area may opt into an additional year of training in:
 

• Obesity Medicine
  • This option offers an additional year of training that is integrated across PGY2, PGY3 and PGY4. This year has been deemed a fellowship equivalent by the Obesity Medicine Education Council and graduates are eligible to sit for the American Board of Obesity Medicine certification exam. This training includes rotations in bariatric surgery, management of obesity & associated conditions in adults & children, practice management of weight management clinics, and advocacy & research related to weight bias, weight equity, and weight management. Residents completing this fellowship equivalent dedicate some of their clinic time to care of patients with obesity.
• Health Policy & Leadership
  • This option offers an additional year of training that is integrated across PGY2, PGY3 and PGY4. Residents complete the Leadership for Public Health and Healthcare certificate through Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (or self-select an equivalent program of study that is approved by program faculty). This training includes rotations in state and federal advocacy, leadership development, and healthcare quality and safety. 

• $18 daily meal allowance in Mercy Hospital St. Louis cafeteria, café, or coffee shop
• Catered lunch daily in continuity clinics
• $1500 and 5 travel days to allow continuing medical education across three years of training
• $1500 scholarships available for residents completing global health trips
• Free parking at Mercy Hospital St. Louis and clinics
• On-site daycare
• Annual Sports Day retreat at local country club

Other benefit and salary information, including a copy of the resident contract, may be found here.

Residents considering a sports medicine fellowship or meaningful pursuit of sports medicine in postgraduate practice may opt into a sports medicine area of concentration. Faculty Christian Verry, MD, CAQSM, leads this area of concentration, which includes focused and longitudinal experiences in clinic, sideline and collegiate/professional sports team settings.

Residents considering an obstetrical or women’s health fellowship or meaningful pursuit of pregnancy care or women’s health in postgraduate practice may opt into a women’s health area of concentration. Faculty Stefanie White, MD, and Lauren Wilfling, DO, MBA, lead this area of concentration, which includes focused and longitudinal experiences in clinic and labor and birth.

Mercy Family Medicine integrates the work of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging into administrative, clinical and educational work, including goals for recruitment and retention of a diverse physician workforce. Learn more about Mercy’s ministry-wide approach to DEIB at https://www.mercy.net/about/diversity-equity-inclusion-belonging/. 

Our residency teaches medical practice that is firmly grounded in available evidence from the literature. All didactics emphasize evidence-based practice and a series of didactic sessions teach residents the principles of EBM. Didactic lectures cover a variety of topics including sports medicine, maternity care, gynecology, dermatology, pediatrics, behavioral science, patient-based clinical case review, practice improvement, chronic disease management, osteopathic principles & practice and communication skills.

In addition to the above lectures there is Journal Club, where each resident presents an article annually. The residents also participate in a quarterly procedure workshop. Also quarterly is a Balint group led by the faculty psychologist offering a supportive atmosphere to discuss areas of mutual concern among residents.

PGY1 resident must be ACLS and BLS certified by the American Heart Association before beginning their residency. The program does not pay for the initial certification. When the certifications expire the program will pay for the renewals.

During the first month of PGY1, residents will earn certification in Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics, Neonatal Resuscitation, and Pediatric Advanced Life Support all paid for by the program.

Residents must complete their step level 3 licensing exam during their first or second year. A successful passing of the exam is required to advance to PGY3. Residents will be excused from clinical duties, regardless of the rotation, in order to take the exam and will not have to use vacation time. The program does not pay for the exam.

Residents that have successfully passed all of the licensing exams and completed PGY1 are able to apply for a permanent Missouri license. The program does not pay for permanent licenses.

Each resident is assigned a family physician faculty member as a professional advisor, with whom they meet quarterly. The advisor’s role is multifaceted and includes assisting the resident in development of an individualized learning plan based on clinical interests and evaluations.

Our philosophy is to foster continual improvement and life-long learning by helping residents learn the skills needed for self-assessment of strengths and areas of improvement. Our evaluation system is a 360 degree perspective, collecting feedback from rotation supervisors, patients, clinical staff and self-assessments.  Twice a year each resident’s progress is reviewed by the program’s Clinical Competency Committee.

The residency is a member of Family Practice Inquiries Network, a collaborative national network dedicated to answering clinical questions using the best evidence. Faculty members are involved at national meetings each year including AAFP, ACGME, AFMRD, and STFM. Journal writing is a regular accomplishment with recent articles by our faculty published in American Family Physician, Journal of Family Practice, Journal of GME and Osteopathic Family Physician.

Residents and faculty of Mercy Family Medicine have the advantage of working with teachers of the Creighton Model of Natural Family Planning. The science of NaProTechnology (Natural Procreative Technology) allows a physician to treat patients with these problems while maintaining the normal physiologic and reproductive potential that may still be present. Residents interested in learning more about the medical science of NaProTechnology can work with a certified Medical Consultant in Natural Family Planning (Sarah Cole, DO, Peter Danis, MD or Stefanie White, MD). In the second or third year, residents can pursue an elective leading to certification as a medical consultant in natural family planning. To learn more about the Creighton Model visit https://creightonmodel.com.

Residents provide prenatal care to patients in the Family Medicine Center as well as performing the deliveries and follow-up care for those patients. Resident care of OB patients in the office is supervised by four faculty members who also practice maternity care (Drs. Phruttitum, Verna, White and Wilfling). Residents are also trained in obstetric ultrasound (first trimester dating and third trimester presentation and fluid evaluation). In addition, all residents are required to successfully complete the A.L.S.O. (Advanced Life Support for Obstetrics) course.
 

If our family medicine laboring patients develop high-risk complications, we are supported on Labor & Delivery by a collaborative team of in-house laborists. We are also supported in the outpatient setting by our OB/GYN colleagues and perinatologists who are available for consultation. Residents spend two dedicated months on labor and delivery, and gain additional experience in OB triage and management of labor and delivery on the Family Medicine Inpatient Service. Our program is proud to have a successful resident OB practice.

The department offers training in special procedures that residents may pursue in their own practices. These include colposcopy, endometrial biopsy, splinting and point-of-care, musculoskeletal & obstetrical ultrasound; in addition to training in common office procedures such as minor surgery (toenail removal, skin biopsies, incision & drainage), cryotherapy, and training in inpatient procedures learned on the medical wards, such as central lines, lumbar puncture, thoracentesis, etc. Special techniques in obstetrical care are learned by residents pursuing the OB track. Online documentation and tracking of procedures is required. For more information about POCUS in Family Medicine see https://www.aafp.org/afp/2018/0815/p200.html.

All residents practice team-based care side by side with faculty in one of two clinics located in north or west St. Louis County. The program prioritizes continuity of care with a team-based approach using the "Clinic First" standard. PGY-1s see patients in continuity clinic up to two half days per week while PGY-2s and PGY-3s see patients in continuity clinic up to five half days per week. Residents also rotate through the program’s clinics in osteopathic manipulative therapy, skin procedures, sports medicine and women’s health procedures.

MFM-STL residents complete hospital-based rotations at Mercy Hospital St. Louis and Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. The MFM-STL hospital service cares for patients of both clinics while modeling quintessential family medicine practice toward laboring and postpartum patients, newborns, children and adults on the same service.