Program Director's Message

Welcome to Salem Hospital!

Founded in 1873 through a local philanthropic effort, Salem Hospital was built in a historic place, full of traditions and innovations, to serve a very diverse socioeconomic and geographic community. Despite challenging times like the Great Salem Fire of 1914, or the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Salem Hospital has been able to provide uninterrupted, high quality, and ground-breaking medical service through its highly motivated providers and teachers. The teaching journey for Salem Hospital started in 1897, when a 13-nurse training program began.

Almost 100 years later, in 1979, an Internal Medicine Residency Program was created to benefit the North Shore community. In 1985, the Residency Program became affiliated with Tufts University Medical School, and medical students started joining our inpatient rotations. Growing from its modest beginnings with 12 acute beds and only a handful of physicians, today Salem Hospital is a general medical and surgical hospital with 395 beds with nearly 600 physicians representing primary care, family practice, and more than 50 additional sub-specialties. Throughout its history of growth, the focus has always been on our people and our community, so it’s no wonder that multiple alumni are still serving our community in primary care, hospital medicine and other specialty positions.

Mass General Brigham System

Salem Hospital is a member of Mass General Brigham, founded by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital -- as well as top-tier specialty hospitals in psychiatry and otolaryngology/ophthalmology, seven community hospitals, Spaulding Rehabilitation, a health insurance plan, an extensive physician network, a teaching organization, and many locations for urgent and community care.

As a member of Mass General Brigham, Salem Hospital and its internal medicine residency program benefited from exceptional educational and development support. The program grew in 2023, two more training positions were added, bringing the total count to 24 categorical Internal Medicine Residents and three Preliminary Medicine Interns. Receiving outstanding training in Process Improvement, our residents are very involved with the program, hospital, and resulting community changes.

4 + 1 Format

In 2020, the schedule was changed to a 4+1 format, allowing for a more robust outpatient experience. As part of the Mass General Brigham affiliation, and based on our residents' needs, we now participate in shared noon conferences with the MGH departments of rheumatology and hematology, and in conferences held by Harvard Medical School educators in neurology, dermatology and internal medicine. Our residents rotate at MGH as part of their neurology and hospital medicine consult training, where they are exposed to high acuity cases and state-of-the-art treatment facilities. New education tracks are being added to our education platform to accommodate the changing medical landscape. This year, we will begin our training in point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS).

Telemedicine

Through the COVID-19 pandemic we are learning the benefits of telemedicine and remote family interactions. North Shore Physicians Group – the physician practice arm of the Salem Hospital organization -- is adding new providers and facilities, enriching our outpatient experience. The Program Evaluation Committee, consisting of resident class representatives, faculty representatives, and program administration, is the main driver for our success and receives continued support from Salem Hospital's leadership team. During our yearly Resident Recognition week, you will have the opportunity to meet the CEO and CMOs. Our current CEO, Dr. David Roberts, a cardiologist, is an exceptional teacher and will join us for monthly morning reports, enabling the voices of our internal medicine residents to be heard.

When training with us in Internal Medicine at Salem Hospital, we will guide you to find your professional balance. Since our categorical residents come from a diverse pool of medical schools from around the world, we have developed processes to help with the transition, including at-elbow shadowing sessions with current residents and nurses, and personalized faculty support sessions. You will receive mentoring from peer residents and core faculty, and have regular meetings with myself, our Associate Program Director, Dr. Somwail Rasla, and our Chair of Medicine, Dr. Mona Hinrichsen. Together, we will help you find your career path and reach your long-term career goals through a diverse range of clinical rotations and ambulatory experiences. You will have direct interactions with attendings involved in patient care, to help clarify your chosen career path and bring joy to your heart for years to come.

Kindness is at the foundation of the Salem Hospital culture, whether towards our colleagues and patients, both inside and outside the hospital, at the bedside, or in office practice. Our program's main goal is to nourish happy and balanced physicians who are excellent healthcare providers. Flexibility is what we need, ask for, and educate our residents to embrace. As the landscape of medicine is continuously changing, our residents are trained to be part of any multidisciplinary treatment care team of the future. Working with specialist physicians, nurses , and therapists, we will teach you to comfortably provide medical care to a wide variety of patients from poor, homeless citizens, to business owners and philanthropists.

We welcome you to explore our website and learn more about what makes our program unique and hope you will consider us for your Internal Medicine residency training.

Daniela Urma, MD , SFHM, FACP
Program Director Internal Medicine Residency