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Internal Medicine Residency Program FAQs

internists posing outside a hospital

The following are frequently asked questions about the Internal Medicine Residency Program at Morristown Medical Center:

Do you accept foreign medical graduates and if so what visas do you support?

We welcome international medical graduates and we do support J1 visas.

How often are interns on call?

The term on call is often used in lieu of the term overnight call. Our interns never have overnight call. Interns on rotations that admit new patients do so in shifts. This is true for all inpatient teams, as well as night float and critical care teams.

Does Morristown Medical Center have subspecialty fellowship programs?

Morristown Medical Center supports the following subspecialty fellowships:

  • Hematology and oncology
  • Cardiology
  • Geriatrics

It is expected that we will soon have additional fellowship programs.

How big is your program?

We have 17 categorical residents per postgraduate year, nine preliminary residents and two PGY-4 chief residents per year. Other residency programs that rotate through our services are emergency medicine, family medicine, podiatry and dentistry.

What are the salary and benefits packages?

How do you comply with the duty hours requirements?

Duty hours are rigorously tracked in our program. We use an online duty hours logger system through New Innovations and our chief residents and faculty pay close attention to ensure strict compliance.

Is it easy to talk with program leadership?

The doors are always open for our residents to speak with Program Director Cilian White, MD and Associate Program Directors Rajiv Bhagat, MD and Kathleen Pergament, DO. Our residents never need an appointment, and we offer our cell phones to all members of our class to reach us at any time.

How do residents' voices get heard?

Residents can express their opinions in a variety of forums. In addition to contacting our program directors or faculty individually, residents can voice concerns to their representatives on the Resident/Faculty Education Committee. Each postgraduate year elects three members to participate for the year, and the group meets at least monthly. Many of the program changes that occur are based on resident feedback and subsequent assessment and planning of the Education Committee. Other opinion forums include Atlantic Health System Residents Council; the quarterly internal medicine resident group meetings, led by our chief residents; and participation in the various committees within the hospital. The Atlantic Health System Graduate Medical Education Office is also available to hear residents' concerns and needs and offers a confidential hotline.

How are residents evaluated?

Faculty provide in person feedback every rotation and all evaluation forms are completed by faculty and submitted online and are available to our residents to access anytime. Program leadership also meets semi-annually to review each resident’s performance and speak with faculty who have worked with them personally.

How does advising work at your residency program?

Resident mentorship at Morristown Medical Center takes on both formal and informal styles. All associate program directors are heavily involved on the frontlines in mentorship, directing curriculum and clinical education. Core faculty advisors are assigned as general mentors. This relationship is solely advisory in nature, allowing residents to openly discuss all aspects of training and career planning with their assigned advisor. This 1:1 relationship continues through all years of training and fosters a smooth transition from medical school to residency, and then on to a fellowship or career practice.

Is there a research requirement?

Yes. We understand that not everyone wants to do clinical research, so we have tried to optimize our research and scholarly activity requirements to achieve multiple goals. The ACGME does not mandate research as a requirement for 3-year internal medicine training programs.

Does Morristown Medical Center have ancillary services?

We have an enormous support staff at our hospital:

  • 24-hour phlebotomy
  • Nurses put in IV lines
  • Transport service for patients, medications and labs
  • 24-hour radiology services
  • Digital radiology available from all hospital computers
  • Social work and care management services assigned to each floor
  • Discharge planning
  • Wound care nurses
  • 24-hour pharmaceutical support
  • Outstanding nursing staff
  • Nutritional and dietary services
  • 24/7 translator services
  • VPN system for patient data access on all platforms (iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, Android)
  • Secure, HIPPA-compliant messaging
  • 24/7 medical library

Will I work with medical students?

Do you support medical school loan repayment?

Atlantic Health System is committed to recruiting excellent primary care physicians who will practice in the communities our hospitals serve. To make practice opportunities a reality for graduating residents, we believe it is important to help alleviate the burden of debt many candidates shoulder as a result of their education. For this reason, we are offering up to $25,000 per year, over four years, to help pay medical school loans of well-qualified internal medicine and family medicine graduates.

To be eligible for the maximum $100,000 benefit, qualified residents must secure a position with Atlantic Medical Group or an associated affiliate, either in an existing practice or in their own practice, and continue to work in the community for a minimum of four years. To help ensure the success of our program, we will be partnering with area physicians to place our graduating residents.