The University of Rochester Associated Hospitals Program in internal medicine. Seven years experience with an innovative city-wide residency for preparation of general internists.

The Associated Hospitals Program (AHP), with a total of 61 residents, engages the staff, patients and facilities of six hospitals and selected community health centers and private practices. The AHP in interlocked with separately accredited residencies in internal medicine in the participating hospitals and provides experiences, especially with ambulant patients, beyond those of more traditional programs in internal medicine. Strategies used by the AHP are minimally dependent upon grants from governmental and private sources for support of the basic three-year program. About one-third of the residents enter practice after completing the basic program; the larger share have a wide range of engagements in the fourth and fifth post-doctoral years for enhancement of clinical and teaching abilities and for critical study of health care. Eighty-seven, or 94 percent, of the 93 alumni are engaged in practice, and many also in teaching, of general internal medicine. Included in the 87 alumni are 12 of 18 residents who had two-year fellowships in medical subspecialties after completion of the AHP residency. The alumni have wide geographic distribution; 33 are practicing in communities with populations of less than 100,000 and 17 of these 33 are in communities of less than 25,000 persons.