Message from the Division Head
General Internal Medicine (GIM) is a highly appealing subspecialty for medical students, residents and physicians who are interested in complexity and comfortable with uncertainty. We diagnose, treat and care for adults with multiple medical conditions in both the acute care and ambulatory settings.
Our Division has great breadth and depth in areas such as hypertension, thrombosis, perioperative medicine, obstetric medicine, eating disorders, and complex and chronic diseases. Division members are actively engaged in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education via the Clinical Teaching Units and the clinics. We have faculty with expertise in medical education, point of care ultrasound, quality and patient safety, and innovative research ranging from basic science to social determinants of health.
Division members attend on the Clinical Teaching Units, ED Triage and Medical Consult services at St. Paul’s Hospital and Vancouver General Hospital. Obstetric Medicine is primarily sited at the BC Women’s Hospital. Many of our faculty also do rural and remote outreach in northern British Columbia.
The UBC GIM Subspecialty Training Program (R4-5) provides outstanding training for residents preparing for a career as a GIM consultant. We are working towards implementing Competency-based Medical Education as per the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. We are very proud of the program and aim to expand the number of GIM subspecialists we can train to meet the community need throughout our province as well as replenish our academic faculty.
GIM is the backbone of acute hospital care and multi-system chronic disease management in Vancouver. We work collaboratively with our colleagues in primary care, medical and surgical specialists, nursing and the allied health team to deliver the best care possible.
Regards,
Dr. Nadia Khan, MD, FRCPC, MSc, ASH Clinical Specialist in Hypertension
Professor and Head, Division of General Internal Medicine
Scientist, Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences
Associate Member, School of Population and Public Health
The Division of General Internal Medicine plays an integral part in the clinical, educational, and research mandates of the UBC Department of Medicine.
The UBC Division of General Internal Medicine (GIM) is a thriving division that is distributed across three urban teaching hospital sites: Vancouver General Hospital (VGH), St. Paul’s Hospital (SPH) and BC Women’s Hospital (BCWH).
Faculty members are active in health service delivery for General Internal Medicine patients and attend on the Clinical Teaching Units at VGH and SPH as well as provide medical consultative services. All three sites are active in ambulatory care and have various areas of clinical expertise, including:
- Obstetrical Medicine (BCWH and SPH);
- GIM-Thrombosis (SPH);
- Hypertension (SPH and VGH);
- Vascular Medicine (VGH);
- Perioperative Medicine (VGH and SPH);
- Eating Disorders (SPH);
- Complex and Chronic Disease Clinic (BCWH);
- Palliative Care (SPH).
In addition, faculty provide Rapid Access Specialist Clinic access to offload the Emergency Department, provide access for family physicians, and early outpatient follow-up for discharged inpatients. The vast majority of the Division’s clinical care is undertaken by learners ranging from medical students to subspecialty fellows.
Education and Outreach
GIM faculty are active in all areas of undergraduate and postgraduate medical education in Internal Medicine and have leadership roles in the Medicine clerkship and Core Internal Medicine Residency Program. The Division has a 2-year GIM Subspecialty Training Program that was accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in 2011. The mandate of the Division is to train GIM specialist physicians who will renew the university faculty at UBC, and to provide exemplary specialist physicians who will provide comprehensive care and meet the needs of patients in communities throughout the province of British Columbia.
UBC GIM Division faculty members are active in research, medical education scholarship and delivery, point of care ultrasound, simulation, patient safety and quality.
The GIM Division recognizes that access to care is an important determinant to health outcomes and is engaged in numerous outreach activities, including: Rural and remote outreach to northern BC through locums and regular travelling clinics; weekly clinic at Bridge Clinic for refugee health; regular Internal Medicine clinics at two of the Vancouver Coastal Health Community Health Centres, which serve a population vulnerable to poor outcomes as well as in the Downtown Eastside at the Portland Hotel; Hypertension and Obstetrical Medicine in Surrey, BC.