Expectations of a Residency Program Funded by INM
The Institute for Natural Medicine (INM) was established in 1992 as a philanthropic foundation serving the profession of natural medicine. INM is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization. INM selected several sites which shall receive funding support for its residency program.
Below are the expectations of a Naturopathic Primary Care residency program funded by INM.
1. The clinic shall provide the resident a professional and collegial work environment that is conducive to achieving the training milestones of the resident and goals for the residency program.
2. The clinic shall provide the resident a one year full-time employment contract defining the rights, duties, and responsibilities of the resident. The resident shall have a workload of 40-60 hours per week.
3. The resident shall have at least 16 hours per week of supervision by the primary resident faculty supervisor for primary care visits. In addition, the resident shall have at least 16 hours of clinical activities/visits and procedures related to patient care.
4. The resident is expected to have 500 primary care patient contacts during the year which include provision of direct patient care, observations with supervisor(s) during patient visits, and follow-up visits.
5. For patient encounters that are solely for in-clinic procedures, the resident shall be record these separately and duties will be limited to 16 hours per week. These include but not limited to IV therapy, physical medicine modalities, minor office procedures, laser therapy, blood draws, vitamin shots, vaccinations, and other similar procedures.
6. The clinic shall limit the assignment of clerical and administrative work to 8 or less hours per week.
7. The resident will carve out time to:
a. Attend the Quarterly Academic Seminars of the consortium and other CE events and activities.
b. Undertake at least 8 hours monthly to attend outside preceptorship rotations to supplement the resident’s clinical training.
c. Have 2 hours each quarter for community talks/events/outreach and similar practice management marketing and networking activities, and
d. To complete a research work as defined by the CNME training handbook.
8. The resident shall receive guidance in drafting of a clinic business plan, marketing plan, and one clinical case report.
9. The resident shall receive a base salary of $34,000 per year and will be provided professional liability/malpractice insurance.
10. The resident will either have health insurance coverage or a monthly stipend of $300 for the purpose of purchasing health insurance (in event the clinic does not provide this benefit).
11. The clinic will provide the resident in-clinic access to on-line database such as Alt-Health Watch, Up-to-Date, AMED, Cochrane, etc.
12. The resident shall receive a $500.00 allowance for continuing medical education
13. Provide the resident to 80 hours of paid time-off for the resident per year (on an accrual basis) in addition to time-off during major federal holidays.