Tacoma Family Medicine

The obstetrics experience at TFM is one of the finest family practice OB training programs available in the West. Residents have primary responsibility for a large number of patients in a busy OB department with over 3,200 deliveries per year. You will develop a wide variety of obstetric skills ranging from low-risk prenatal care and deliveries to the recognition of, and response to high-risk conditions and obstetrical emergencies.

High-Risk

Tacoma General Hospital is a perinatal transport center with a Level III NICU. This unique setting allows TFM residents to manage and participate in the care of complex, high-risk OB patients transferred from other hospitals all over southwestern Washington.

Wealth of Faculty Experience

Residents have around-the-clock support from TFM faculty and OB faculty members who are dedicated to training family physicians to practice obstetrics as a core skill. All family physician faculty actively practice full range obstetrics from low-risk to high-risk.

Resident Training

In the first year, residents work side by side with a Rural Fellow who guides and assists the resident in the core skills necessary for low-risk vaginal deliveries. Residents staff the NST/AFI clinic and learn to manage complications of pregnancy including suspicious fetal heart tones, preterm labor, vaginal bleeding, premature rupture of membranes and preeclampsia (just to mention a few). All first year residents are ALSO certified.

In the second, and optional third years, residents manage the OB Deck on their own with supervision from the in-house OB faculty as well as on-call TFM faculty. Additional responsibilities include gaining competency and skills in surgical deliveries, amniocentesis, circumcisions, tubal ligations and overseeing nighttime coverage for the perinatology service.

C-Sections

There are also opportunities to obtain basic skills in operative obstetrics. Residents with strong interests in cesarean sections can use 1-2 months of electives to broaden their training. Experiences vary however some residents have performed sufficient numbers of c-sections to gain privileges after graduation.

Newborn Care

With nearly 300 continuity deliveries per year, TFM residents gain extensive experience in the assessment and management of the newborn. Training is augmented with NRP certification and a unique one-month NICU rotation in the R3 year dedicated to newborn resuscitation in the depressed or acutely ill infant.