Wheeling Hospital Program

Program Identity & Fit

A community-based residency at a 223-bed hospital in Wheeling serving a rural Appalachian region, now part of WVU Medicine, which states that family medicine is the only residency based at the hospital so residents work directly with primary care physicians and specialists. It was established in 1975 and reports more than 200 graduates. Eight residents are accepted in each of the three years, for a complement of twenty-four. Continuity care is provided in the hospital's family medicine center using a team model intended to parallel private practice, supplemented by rotations in affiliated physician offices. Elective time allows added experience in obstetrics, sports medicine, hospitalist care, geriatrics and long-term nursing care, and the program offers an osteopathic-focused track with ACGME Osteopathic Recognition as well as a rural scholars program. The program reports that many former residents practice in the area and some have joined its faculty.