Home Careers & Education Graduate Medical Education Graduate Medical Education Programs Family Medicine Rural Training Program Curriculum
Rotations in both Corvallis and Newport include inpatient and ambulatory clinical experiences. Residents rotate at Legacy Randall Children’s Hospital in Portland during intern year for inpatient pediatrics and at Providence St. Vincent’s during third year for pediatric emergency medicine. All other inpatient experiences are completed within the Samaritan Health Services system. Residents train early in their first year at Samaritan Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, then transition to Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital beginning in January of intern year.
See an overview of our curriculum.
Residents’ addiction medicine experience occurs in conjunction with the Samaritan Treatment and Recovery Services (STARS) program and Lincoln County Health and Human Services. With the creation of a new STARS 12-bed residential treatment center in Newport, residents will experience both outpatient and inpatient addiction medicine treatment alongside board-certified addiction medicine specialists offering a full range of MAT options.
Residents have a one-month community medicine rotation in their 2nd year that is spent with Lincoln County Health Department. This experience includes time spent with primary care as well as the crisis team and behavioral health/MAT providers. As of the 2025-2026 academic year, residents will also have a one-month rotation with the Siletz Community Health Clinic, an Indian Health Services partner site that provides services for the local Confederated Tribe of Siletz Indians and community members living nearby.
Didactics are held every Wednesday afternoon at the Center for Health Education located on the PCH campus and is protected time for residents. With a mixture of traditional lectures, interactive case-based sessions, hands-on workshops, skills drills, and boards preparation, these afternoons are designed to be engaging and provide a thorough overview of the broad knowledge base required in family medicine. Didactic lectures are presented by both residents, core faculty and community faculty, with opportunities to learn from multiple specialties.
Simulation labs are held 3 times a year at the Newport Center for Health Education’s new state-of-the-art simulation lab.
Residents participate in journal club and M&M conferences and earn ACLS, ATLS, ALSO, PALS and NRP certification.
There are many opportunities for residents to shape the future of this new rural training program and to have a positive impact on the local community. Chief and Junior chief residents are elected by their peers. The residents also hold a non-voting seat on the Pacific Communities Health District Foundation Board of Directors which helps inform the provision of medical care and resources within the community. This also provides opportunities for residents to interact with community leaders. Residents also serve on both residency and hospital-based committees. There is a resident representative on the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians Board of Directors.
Residents complete two quality improvement projects during their training with the support from the SHS Research Department. Residents present at least one scholarly activity at the annual SHS Research Symposium and have opportunities to present their work both regionally and nationally.
Residents complete rotation-relevant Knowledge Self-Assessment (KSA) activities throughout the course of residency in addition to the American Board of Family Medicine’s (ABFM) continuous KSA (CKSA) questions as they work toward their board certification in family medicine. In-training exams are conducted annually to provide an assessment of their progress in acquiring the knowledge they need to be a family physician and to evaluate how our program is meeting educational goals.
Residents get 8 weeks of elective time in their second year of training and 16 weeks in the third year of training. There are several elective opportunities locally both in Newport and Lincoln City and as well as electives available in Corvallis, Salem, and Eugene. Opportunities for away and global health rotations for interested residents are also available.
Download or view a printable version.
