Brief History
A Brief History of Riverside Family Medicine
Riverside Regional Medical Center has been a sponsor of graduate medical education since 1957. Our affiliation with the Medical College of Virginia (Virginia Commonwealth University) began in 1968.
In 1968 Riverside was selected from among 100 hospitals in Virginia to be the site of a two year general practice residency program. In February of 1971 we were among the first wave of accredited residency programs in the new specialty of Family Practice. In January of 2005, the American Board of Family Practice changed to the American Board of Family Medicine and we became VCU-Riverside Family Medicine Residency.
Riverside Family Medicine moved from its original location at Riverside Hospital to rented space at the Newport News Health Department in 1972. The Family Medicine Center was designed as a “Model Practice”, resembling an ideal private practice setting as closely as possible. In January of 1989, the program moved to 316 Main Street, and in April of 2005 we moved to our current site at the Riverside Brentwood Medical Center on Jefferson Avenue.
We strongly believe the best way to learn the full scope of family medicine is to train in a practice that serves a patient population that represents the community. Our goal is to train residents to become competent, successful Family Physicians for the future.
In keeping with that objective, we implemented a fully-functional, state-of-the-art electronic medical record (EMR) in May of 1997. In 2017 we converted to a system-wide integrated Electronic Health Record.
In November of 2007 Riverside Family Medicine received approval from the American Osteopathic Association to begin a dually accredited Osteopathic Family Medicine program. Riverside is affiliated with VCOM and the Appalachian post-doctoral training institute.
Adult inpatient training occurs at Riverside Regional Medical Center, a 450-bed teaching hospital. RRMC offers a full range of specialty and sub-specialty physicians who actively participate in the training program.
The residency program in family medicine at Riverside Regional Medical Center is designed to provide a strong hospital experience combined with a state of the art private office setting for outpatient care. Osteopathic manipulation is provided to patients in the office during regular office visits and also in a continuity OMM clinic offered monthly. Both osteopathic and allopathic residents are taught and encouraged to use OMM.
The program places a high priority on “individualizing” the residents’ educational activities and learning experiences to prepare them as life-long learners in the satisfying and enjoyable practice of family medicine. A high faculty to resident ratio with excellent faculty availability creates a close family atmosphere which has been the unique and remarkable trademark of the Riverside Family Medicine Residency Program. As of June 2020, we have graduated 550 residents who are located all over the world.
This program continues to be committed to producing the finest and best-trained family medicine physicians in the nation.