Undergraduate Program

DFPM - Little Rock

Designed and constructed to meet the needs of the UAMS Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, the Family Medical Center lies across the street from the McClellan VA Hospital and between the Stephens Spine Center and the Reynolds Center on Aging. The clinic occupies the first floor with 22 exam rooms, 2 procedure rooms, laboratory and x-ray facilities. Four exam rooms are equipped for observation and videotaping of patient care. On the second floor are offices, conference rooms, the department library of print and other media, and the computer rooms. The ground floor houses the Employee Health and Student Preventive Services Programs (SHES) Clinic, the Executive Physical Program (EPP), the Occupational Medicine Program, and the Continuing Medical Education Program (CME).

The family practice residency program is a university-based program that has graduated family physicians since 1972. These physicians have gone into a wide variety of practice settings, from rural solo practice to directing health maintenance organizations in large cities. Although we have the facilities of tertiary care hospitals and the faculty of the medical school, the program retains autonomy for the practice and teaching of primary care by providing outpatient care in its own clinic building and by having its own ward service for inpatient care. Rotations are provided in community hospitals and in the offices of physicians in private practice in addition to the University Hospital of Arkansas, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, and the McClellan Veterans Administration Hospital. The program enjoys an optimal environment for learning. We have the advantages of access to extensive facilities and faculty without losing our identity as a program for primary care physicians.

Other divisions within the department include undergraduate education, research, and continuing medical education. There are 10 board-certified family physicians, a clinical psychologist, a professor of pharmacy, and certified health education specialist. The Family Medical Center serves as a teaching site for medical, pharmacy, and nursing students. The intellectual environment created by the department for the study of family practice provides an exciting atmosphere for learning the specialty.