McLeod Family Medicine Residency Program's mission is "to graduate skilled family physicians who will populate the underserved areas of primarily rural South Carolina." As part of this training program, a top priority is to "provide superior health care services to the community and population served." Our mission is being fulfilled. Through 2011, fifty-seven percent of our graduates have remained in South
Carolina opening new practices or joining established practices. For the past five years, our program has achieved a 100% pass rate for
residency graduates on the ABFM Certification Exam. As the only community-based training program in this area, our residents are in high demand with more than half recruited to their first job directly from McLeod.

The Best of Both Worlds

McLeod Family Medicine is a community-based program that offers many of the benefits of a university-based program. The hospital serves as one of the four regional medical centers in South Carolina. McLeod, however, is the only regional medical center in the state with an unopposed Family Medicine Residency Program. Consequently, we are able to feature a community-based training program without sacrificing the diverse pathology seen among many university programs. Our residents care for an incredible array of patients. Not only do they treat the common diseases seen at most hospitals, our residents also care for patients with the complex, rare and/or acute diseases that many other community hospitals transfer to larger medical centers. This strength extends into all areas of training including obstetrics and pediatrics; McLeod, for example, is the designated Regional Perinatal Center for Northeast South Carolina. Unlike many university programs though, as the only residency program at McLeod, our residents do not have to compete with other residents for patients, which significantly enhances learning opportunities.

Furthermore, McLeod offers an unparalleled array of opportunities to its residents. Residents receive a solid procedural training; endoscopic procedures are abundant as residents easily can achieve over 100 EGD's and 100 colonoscopies during the three years of training. Our residents train with physicians certified in Sports Medicine and in Geriatrics. Opportunities in rural medicine are also plentiful.

Many of our residents partake in international mission trips with our faculty. Florence and the surrounding communities offer extensive secondary employment opportunities. As a result, our residents are able to identify the areas in Family Medicine that they desire to focus in on while remaining confident that if their interests change throughout residency McLeod will likely have opportunities in that area as well. The faculty at McLeod Family Medicine is fully committed to helping each resident maximize his or her three years of training. Upon completion of the program, McLeod residents will be prepared to practice in any setting -- academic, urban, suburban, or rural.