Internal Medicine Residency Program

Just because doctors graduate from medical school, it doesn’t mean they’re able to practice on their own yet. Every year, 12 new doctors join Lee Health’s Internal Medicine Residency Program. Dr. Maya Delibasic is the program director. “Having a residency program I believe lifts up the academic atmosphere in every hospital, in particular community based hospitals, because you just have those young minds, you always have to be prepared to answer their questions correctly.”

The program lasts 3 years and the residents get a little taste of everything. “Our residents rotate on subspecialty consults as well, so infectious disease, urology, GI, cardiology, so other rotations throughout 3 years, so we as a team are kind of like are becoming a teaching hospital,” said Delibasic.

Residents are able to train in a high tech simulation lab. “So that if they have a patient in the hospital that suddenly becomes hypertensive, or low blood pressure, or their heart rate suddenly becomes abnormal, they know the next appropriate steps and they are trained in a real time situation,” said Delibasic.

Resident physicians also see patients in clinic. “They would go over history, physical exam, they’ll do a charge review, and then they tell the patient there going it to outside the room and they’ll discuss with the supervising attending,” said Delibasic.

Then both doctors will enter the room, discuss the diagnosis, and wrap up the visit together. The goal is to give the residents increasing responsibility throughout the years of the program so that eventually they’re helping to manage the team. Using Lee Health’s resources to help train the next generation of doctors.

Lee Health in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of health care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For more than 100 years, we’ve been providing our community with personalized preventative health services and primary care to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries. Lee Health - Caring People. Inspiring Care.