About the Program
OVERVIEW
Shiprock-University of New Mexico (SUNM) Family Medicine Residency is the first federal Indian Health Service (IHS) residency program, and the only residency program on Navajo Nation (Diné Bikéyah). The IHS serves as the principal federal health care provider and advocate for many American Indian populations. Our location on the Navajo reservation allows for close collaboration with the community and people we serve. SUNM aspires to serve our community by training full spectrum rural family physicians that understand the impact of health disparities on Native communities.
SUNM is a 1+2 program where residents train at the University of New Mexico during their first year, and then at Northern Navajo Medical Center (an IHS facility) in Shiprock during Years 2 and 3. Our program combines the strengths of an academic tertiary center at the University of New Mexico Hospital with the uniqueness of a community setting experience at Northern Navajo Medical Center. We accept two residents per year through the Electronic Resident Application Service (ERAS).
CURRICULUM
Year 1 are spent primarily as part of the University of New Mexico. Inpatient rotations during this year include the family medicine run inpatient service, labor and delivery coverage, inpatient pediatrics, and ICU. Emergency Medicine and Pediatric Emergency Medicine are also completed during Year 1, as well as outpatient rotations in Pediatric Clinic as well as Family Medicine continuity clinic at North Valley Clinic in Albuquerque, NM. Year 2 and 3 are spent at Northern Navajo Medical Center in Shiprock, New Mexico. Longitudinal blocks create space for engaging with the community. This includes community-based teaching in which residents are assigned a "continuity community". In this designated community, residents participate in many facets of health care: school-based clinics and sports medicine, community wellness planning, home visits, and more. Our communities have so much to teach all of us about health and care. Please follow the link to view our block curriculum.
NATIVE HEALTH CURRICULUM
SUNM Family Medicine Residency Program is working with community partners and the Center for Native American Health (CNAH) to provide a Native health Curriculum. The curriculum will be integrated over the three years of residency training through both didactic sessions and real life experience at continuity clinics in communities on Navajo Nation.
Topics include health equity and disparities, the health effects of colonization, Indigenous history, and cultural humility.
NAVAJO NATION
Navajo Nation now represents the most populous tribal nation in the United States. The Navajo Nation consists of more than 25,000 contiguous square miles and three satellite communities, and extends into portions of the states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. The Diné people have a rich tradition and a long history that has shaped the practice of medicine and the delivery of medical care on Navajo Nation.
Shiprock is located in the Northeast corner of Diné Bikéyah, the Navajo Nation. Shiprock is home to 8,000 people, but the hospital is the primary medical home for more than 50,000 individuals. Some patients travel hours to get seen. The community is almost entirely Native American, mostly Diné (Navajo). Many patients speak Diné as their first language and combine traditional healing with Western medicine. The hospital staff includes a traditional healer to provide this important care to both patients and employees.
INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE (IHS)
The IHS is an integrated national health care delivery system consisting of 35 hospitals, over 300 health centers, and approximately 1,000 physicians across the country. Northern Navajo Medical Center represents one of the four federal hospitals on the Navajo Nation reservation. Between time in Albuquerque at the VA and the UNM Hospital, and the second and third years working in the IHS system, residents will be well versed in navigating a variety of medical systems.
The mission of the IHS is to raise the physical, mental, social, and spiritual health of American Indians and Alaska Natives to the highest level. The IHS vision is healthy communities and quality health care systems through strong partnerships and culturally responsive practices. Strategic goals are to ensure that comprehensive, culturally appropriate personal and public health services are available and accessible to American Indian and Alaska Native people; to promote excellence and quality through innovation of the Indian health system into an optimally performing organization; and to strengthen IHS program management and operations.
