HCA Healthcare-Mercer University School of Medicine-Grand Strand Health Program

Program Identity & Fit

Grand Strand Medical Center's Internal Medicine Residency is a community-based, HCA-affiliated program at a 403-bed acute care hospital with the state's busiest trauma center, offering broad exposure to inpatient medicine, ICU, and a resort-town population that spans adolescents to active retirees and vacationing patients. The program is structured around a 4+2+2 block schedule, an 18-month academic half-day curriculum mapped to the ABIM blueprint, and a dedicated POCUS/simulation curriculum (Montefiore-10) giving residents hands-on procedural competency in thoracentesis, paracentesis, lumbar puncture, and ultrasound-guided vascular access. Scholarly activity is woven into training via QI-driven M&M conferences, journal club, and access to HCA's national research infrastructure and Scholarly Commons, though the explicit career framing emphasizes hospital medicine, primary care, and fellowship as parallel, equally viable outcomes rather than a fellowship-only pipeline. Academic affiliations with Mercer, USC, and VCOM and a stated non-punitive, wellness-oriented culture (HCA's "Pathways to Flourishing" model) signal a program that values teaching engagement, resident wellbeing, and steady clinical growth over hyper-competitive research output.