Residents spend a significant portion of their training at Saint Joseph Hospital in downtown Denver. Saint Joseph Hospital was founded in Denver in 1873 by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth (SCL), an order of Catholic nuns, and started training residents in 1893. We moved into a beautiful new hospital in December 2014. Saint Joseph Hospital has achieved Magnet recognition for nursing excellence and quality patient care and is ranked in the top 5% of hospitals nationwide for patient experience by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Press-Ganey.
Our residents work in a variety of settings here including the Emergency Department, Intensive and Intermediate Care Units, Surgical Care, Newborn Nursery/NICU, and Labor and Delivery. Our residents frequently work alongside our resident colleagues in the three other residencies at Saint Joseph Hospital: OB-GYN, Internal Medicine, and General Surgery. The 3rd floor of the hospital is dedicated to medical staff services and residency education, with a state-of-the-art simulation center, medical library, physician workrooms, and provider cafeteria.
In 2022, SCL Health merged with Intermountain Health, another nonprofit health system, to provide care to communities in seven states across the Mountain West. Saint Joseph Hospital retains its strong sense of community and its Catholic identity, which is manifest in our commitment to whole-person care, recognizing the inherent dignity in all people, and caring for all patients regardless of their ability to pay. Read more about Catholic Care at Saint Joseph Hospital.
Bruner Family Medicine Clinic is located less than a mile east of Downtown Denver and is right across the street from Saint Joseph Hospital in the Uptown neighborhood. The clinic is connected to our residency offices and conference room and is where residents see their own patients and get the majority of the outpatient training. In addition, our residents do some rotations at the OB-GYN residency clinic (Seton Women’s Medical Center) and General Surgery residency clinic (Rainer Clinic). All of these clinics focus on providing comprehensive care for the underserved population of Denver.
First year residents complete a 1 month rotation at Children’s Hospital Colorado (CHC) in Aurora, CO. This prestigious intuition was recently rated the #1 pediatric hospital in the region and top 10 in the nation. Residents work with University of Colorado pediatrics residents and pediatricians to care for hospitalized pediatric patients, including pediatric patients with complex medical histories.
Residents return to CHC in their second year for their outpatient pediatrics rotation, during which residents rotate through a variety of specialty pediatrics clinics, including Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Complex Care, and the Feeding and Swallowing Program. Additional elective opportunities are available to interested residents, including management of LARC and other family planning methods at the Adolescent Medicine Clinic.
First year residents rotate for 1 month at the Pediatric Emergency Department and Urgent Care (PEDUC) at Denver Health, a 19-bed, 24-hour emergency room and urgent care just for children. Our residents work with University of Colorado pediatrics residents and Denver Health Emergency Medicine Residents to see a high volume of pediatric patients in a fast paced acute care setting. Residents are supervised by pediatricians and emergency medicine physicians.
Residents return to Denver Health in their second and third years to rotate for their orthopedics and dermatology rotations. Additional elective opportunities are available to interested residents.
SCL Health maintains a close relationship with Kaiser Permanente, and our residents have access to many learning opportunities through this partnership. During the second and third years, residents have the opportunity to rotate in a number of outpatient Kaiser clinics, including Minor Procedures, Dermatology, Cardiology, Oncology, Rheumatology, Allergy, ENT, Infectious Disease, and more!
Starting in the second year, residents are scheduled one-half day each month to see patients at Briarwood Health Care Center. Residents are supervised by SJH Family Medicine faculty. This rotation provides a longitudinal geriatrics experience and training to how to best care for patients in long-term care.
Located in north Denver, Clínica Tepeyac was founded in 1993 after a community needs project revealed the residents of this area faced many barriers to healthcare access, and consequently suffered a higher burden of poor health care outcomes. Clínica Tepeyac provides a multitude of resources for their patients, including serving a high volume of obstetric and Spanish speaking patients. All OB- track residents rotate regularly at Clinica Tepeyac throughout their residency, and any interested residents have the opportunity to rotate here as well.
Upper-level residents have the opportunity to complete a trauma focused rotation at either Winter Park or Aspen Snowmass. Residents stay in provided housing and work alongside family medicine and emergency medicine physicians at the mountain based clinics to care for acute injuries and illnesses.
