Letter from the Director

There are numerous factors that contribute to the decision regarding where to train for your Family Medicine residency experience and, quite possibly, where you’ll practice. I sincerely feel Columbus, Georgia has a lot to offer, not only as a quality training experience, but also for quality of life and potential practice site.

Our 583-bed tertiary care hospital, Piedmont Columbus Regional Midtown Campus, is a regional referral center for a 50-mile radius in west central Georgia. Because our unopposed training program is the only physician-training program in the hospital, our residents get solid, hands-on training, from neonatology through geriatrics and nursing home care. Our Family Physician faculty, combined with numerous specialist faculty members, and many community preceptors, ensure appropriate supervision and independence as a resident matures in the program.

There are 85 Family Physician graduates on the medical staff at Piedmont Columbus Regional Midtown Campus, and they provide the bulk of the primary care in the Columbus area. Columbus has been identified as the healthiest economic area in Georgia and one of the leading growth areas in the country. With the growth projected here, practice opportunities should be plentiful as you graduate.

Some of the important considerations for training with Piedmont Columbus Regional are:

• EPIC electronic medical record—We have been using electronic medical records since 2004. In 2019, we transitioned to Epic, the EMR used by most of the largest integrated health systems in the world. Epic is rated by healthcare providers as the best acute and best ambulatory EMR for physician productivity and effectiveness. Epic makes common tasks streamlined to save time, with predictive analytics and decision support tools that support clinical practice to yield better outcomes for patients.
   
• Innovative Electronic Curricula—We provide our residents with free access to online educational resources and study tools for USMLE and ABFM Board Review, to include the Challenger Program, Exam Master Online, GME Competency Education from AMA, Quality Improvement & Patient Safety from IHI, ECG Competency, Ultrasound training, the AFP Journal, ABFM KSA’s and more!
   
• Resident Computer Lab
  In support of our electronic curricula and EPIC electronic health record, we provide an educational computer lab with desktop PC’s exclusively for residents’ use.
   
• Board Certification Preparation
  The program has numerous mechanisms to prepare graduates for successful ABFM/AOBFP board exam success. Using feedback from the annual In-Training Exam and performance evaluations, we prepare residents for success through board review activities and individualized education plans guided by their Faculty Advisor.
   
• Career Options
  The residency at Piedmont Columbus Regional Midtown Campus in Columbus is the largest and oldest in Georgia and prepares its graduates for adventures. Medical education in our hospital goes back to the 1940s, and our graduates practice in every corner of Georgia and the Southeast. They practice in traditional Family Medicine venues, including hospital work and obstetrics.

Lately, our graduates have added other career options to the long list of graduates providing excellent primary care to their patients. They have become hospitalists and urgent care physicians, and many gravitate to full-time emergency medicine positions. Some pursue fellowships. In the last 15 years, 100 percent of the residents seeking fellowship training received their fellowships in obstetrics, hospice and palliative care, sports medicine, geriatrics or hospital medicine.

Our residency and internship training programs are dually accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the American Osteopathic Association (AOA). Applicants may send us their applications via the NRMP or the AOA matching programs.

Please contact me or our co-chief residents, Dr. Daniel Asher and Dr. Bailee Blackburn, to find out more about our program.

John R. Bucholtz, D.O.
Director of Medical Education Program & Family Medicine Residency Program
1900 10th Avenue, Suite 100
Columbus, GA 31901
(706) 571-1430
John.Bucholtz@piedmont.org

Co-Chief Residents

Smita Saraykar M.D. | Smita.saraykar@piedmont.org
Nafessa Khan, M.D. | Nafeesa.Khan@piedmont.org
 

Read the welcome letter from our Chief Residents