About
Is Our Program Right for You?
We take pride in our selection process. Instead of trying to find the “best applicant”, our goal is to find the “best fit” — the type of resident who will thrive as a member of the UMKC family. Read on to find out if our program is the right fit for you.
Five Things to Know About Our Program
1) Our program is greater than the sum of its parts
The combination of a large high-risk, high-acuity patient population with a stimulating learning environment and supportive faculty and fellow residents, provides the foundation for a solid and well-balanced training experience.
2) We tailor our teaching
How you meet your learning needs will depend not only on your level of training but also on your learning style. The conventional lecture method of teaching is being replaced by smaller group discussions tailored to the PGY-level. We are now going into the third year of our very successful Intern School (a.k.a “Reading Rainbow”), which replaced the more traditional intern orientation/boot camp when we realized the unique needs of our incoming interns. Shorter sessions over longer periods of time has proven to be a more effective way to ease our interns into their new roles.
3) We teach you more than medicine
Navigating the world of modern medicine goes well beyond clinical knowledge and skills. Evidence-based habit formation; diversity, inclusion and cultural competency; social determinants of health; medical education and quality improvement are now being incorporated into our curriculum rather than purely clinical lectures.
4) Our residents are the drivers of change
All of the recent improvements in terms of teaching, resident wellness, communication and overall functioning of the program have come directly from the feedback and ideas provided by our residents.
5) We LOVE KC
Beyond “livable”, Kansas City is a truly “lovable” place. What’s not to love about this authentic, inclusive and culturally rich city? It’s big enough to offer plenty of quality entertainment, art and food but not so big for traffic or overcrowded spaces to be a problem. Living in KC will surely be an added benefit to your whole residency experience. We even have our own UMKC guide to KC created by one of our residents.
What type of resident thrives at UMKC?
USMLE scores and medical school grades don’t tell the whole story. The skills required to be successful in our program go beyond medical knowledge and test taking. We expect our residents to fully develop the following skills by the end of their training:
- Adaptability: turning the challenging residency work environment and long hours into opportunities for both professional and personal growth.
- Curiosity: the motivation to pursue and enjoy asking questions. It’s easy to become passive recipients of knowledge during residency. Instead, we’re looking for active learners who are curious not only about medical literature but also about ways to improve their performance every day.
- Commitment: the genuine desire to take excellent care of our large underserved population with all the challenges that implies.
In other words, if you're a self-motivated, curious and open minded applicant who is committed to improving the health of underserved women, this might be the right program for you. We'll make sure you get all the tools you need to become a well-rounded and very competent obstetrician and gynecologist.
Pedro Morales, M.D.
Associate Professor and Program Director
UMKC OB-GYN Residency Program