UWFM-Cheyenne trains talented rural healthcare providers

Since 1979, the University of Wyoming (UW) Family Medicine Residency Program (FMRP) at Cheyenne (UWFM-Cheyenne) has been helping Wyoming meet its need for primary care physicians.

A division of the UW College of Health Sciences, UWFM-Cheyenne is “an unopposed community-based program producing the ‘best all-around’ family physicians,” as stated on the program’s website.

The curriculum focuses on hands-on training and broad clinical exposure to prepare residents for careers spanning all divisions of family medicine, and graduates often go on to serve rural and underserved communities in the Cowboy State and beyond.

Residency curriculum 

The UWFM-Cheyenne residency program is a three-year program designed to prepare graduates for careers in family medicine. It’s led by an experienced team of UW faculty, complemented by hands-on experiences with community physicians and other healthcare professionals.

As the only residency program in Cheyenne, residents enjoy close mentorship and personalized guidance from a faculty of experienced family physicians, as well as medical specialists working in Cheyenne across a range of disciplines.

Education is broken down into 36 month-long block rotations which expose residents to several different disciplines and local practices throughout their three years. Categories of the education requirements include family medicine, adult medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, infant and childcare, sports medicine and surgical care. 

The sports medicine division allows residents to participate in sideline coverage at a variety of local sporting events including some high school sports games and local rodeos. 

Residents may also elect to take rodeo medicine training, learning emergency care and techniques like laceration repair and acute injury management in the arena.

In addition to the education requirements, residents complete a series of four half-days in practice management every year and are encouraged to pursue research opportunities in addition to a variety of electives in their second and third years.

From obstetrics and infant care to geriatrics and emergency medicine, the curriculum aims to create well-rounded healthcare providers who are comfortable in a range of family medicine services post-residency.

Graduates of the program often practice in communities of less than 5,000 people, according to the UW FMRP website, and are prepared to provide specialized care in emergency situations and general practice settings.

Real-life application

Earlier this summer, UWFM-Cheyenne residents were instrumental in an emergency situation which occurred during the Cheyenne Frontier Days (CFD) Rodeo.

Under the supervision of Dr. James Eggert, associate program director of UWFM-Cheyenne, and a team of CFD medical personnel, three resident physicians helped administer life-saving cardiopulmonary resuscitation measures to a cowboy who had been kicked in the chest and knocked unconscious by a bucking horse.

An Oct. 10 UW News article relays the details of the event and calls the team’s training and experience in administering rodeo medicine “the difference between life and death” for the injured cowboy who made a full recovery thanks to the quick actions of the residents, Eggert and CFD medics.

Situations like this underscore the great value of comprehensive and interactive rural healthcare training, which programs like the UWFM-Cheyenne residency program provide. 

Grace Skavdahl is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.