Dear applicants and residents:
Thank you for your interest in our Osteopathic Family Medicine Residency Program at Larkin Community Hospital in South Miami, Florida.
Choosing the location for your postgraduate training is one of the most challenging decisions you will assume, with an endless list of programs to consider. We are confident that you will discover that all the tools required to teach and learn Family Medicine are found at our institution. Training in our residency program will allow you to continue your medical education and receive broad-based preparation that will assist you in reaching your potential as an excellent osteopathic family physician. Our faculty is as diverse as our residents and many of them have years of experience in training medical students and residents.
Recognizing the validity of the principles of osteopathic medicine, principally that of treating the whole person, our program will supply the opportunity for the resident to gain a thorough understanding of the role social, cultural, behavioral, spiritual, and biologic dimensions play in the health of the individual. Our residents must be educated to understand and integrate osteopathic values and philosophy into all clinical and patient care activities. The osteopathic concept of health care emphasizes that the human body is a unit in which structure and function are mutually and reciprocally interdependent; that the body, through a complex equilibrium system, tends to be self-regulatory and self healing; that adequate function of body systems depends upon the unimpeded flow of blood and nerve impulses; that the musculoskeletal elements comprise a body system, whose importance far exceeds that of providing framework support; and that there are somatic components of disease that are not only manifestations of, but are also important contributing and/or maintaining factors in the diseased area as well as areas distant from the diseased part.
Residents are evaluated in a manner that emphasizes their ability to be compliant with the AOA competences in the areas of the Osteopathic Philosophy and Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, patient care, medical knowledge, practiced-based learning and improvement, interpersonal skills and communication, professionalism, and systems-based practice. Family-oriented comprehensive care with demonstrated emphasis on continuity shall be an integral part of our curricular component, and disease prevention is the cornerstone of osteopathic family practice and shall be given major emphasis throughout our educational program.
Upon the successful completion of our residency program, our graduates will be prepared to provide comprehensive osteopathic health care to the individual in the context of the family and the community. We the faculty, residents, staff and administrative leadership at Larkin Community Hospital feel privileged to play a part in training the outstanding osteopathic family physicians of the future. I would be happy to speak with any candidate with questions regarding our educational program.
Sincerely,
Dr. Iván Rodríguez, D.O., PhD.
Program Director, Osteopathic Family Medicine Residency Program
Director of Medical Education