FAQs

Natividad Family Medicine serves a special role within our community. The program has a long legacy of providing resident-driven full-spectrum care, and prides itself in serving the underserved community of Salinas, which is in large part made up of Latinx farmworkers. Residents continuously improve their skills in a variety of areas including but not limited to outpatient primary care, high-risk obstetrics, pediatrics, inpatient medicine, emergency medicine, critical care, and addiction medicine. Natividad boasts a high faculty-to-resident ratio, allowing for a more intimate learning environment.  Our full-spectrum training, in which residents have a high level of responsibility for patient care, allows residents to feel comfortable and prepared to pursue a wide range of careers or fellowship opportunities upon graduation. Our alumni practice in a wide range of settings from outpatient family medicine to inpatient hospitalist medicine, obstetric care, global health, teaching and every combination of these.

Our OB service is busy, and our patients have many high-risk conditions, resulting in a very rich and robust training environment for the residents. Residents gain direct experience managing preterm labor, hypertensive disorders/preeclampsia, maternal trauma, trial of labor after cesarean, cholestasis of pregnancy, and gestational and preexisting diabetes. We work in a collaborative team made up of a family medicine attending, an OB-GYN attending, a FM/OB fellow, a resident, and often a medical student. Over the course of the rotation, the FM resident learns to “run the deck”, with the support and teaching of the fellows and attendings. FM residents also receive direct teaching and supervision from the FM attending on providing “couplet care” for postpartum moms and babies. In addition to their OB-GYN rotations, residents provide prenatal care in their continuity clinic and provide “couplet care” in the hospital by delivering their own clinic patients and providing postpartum and newborn care in the outpatient setting.

Residents easily graduate with more than 100 vaginal deliveries, and some OB enthusiasts have exceeded 200. Residents who are considering pursuing an OB fellowship can also get experience assisting and performing cesarean deliveries.

Many of our incoming residents had limited experience on labor and delivery in medical school. With lots of hands-on experience at Natividad, you will learn quickly! Our FM and OB-GYN faculty are in house 24/7 and provide teaching and plenty of supervision to the fellows and residents, and we all work together as a team. While the training on OB tends to be busy, there are always experienced people nearby to help support and teach you, and you will graduate ready to practice family medicine obstetrics!

Our residents graduate prepared to independently practice obstetrical care including vaginal births. Although residents have opportunities to perform Cesarean sections, they need advanced training to achieve competency in surgical obstetrics, as 100-150 Cesarean sections are required for privileging at most US hospitals. Interested graduates pursue FMOB fellowships to get the required surgical volume…we highly recommend our Natividad Obstetrics Fellowship!

Natividad serves a predominantly Spanish-speaking population, and while many of our hospital staff and faculty speak Spanish, the residency program offers many resources to facilitate effective patient-doctor communication. Many residents arrive at the program already proficient in Spanish; others come with limited experience, and end up learning a lot from the daily immersion! The most important thing is a willingness to learn. In the hospital and clinic we offer in-person and telephone interpreter services. We are very proud of our in-person interpreter services in the hospital, providing services for patients whose primary languages are Spanish, Triqui, Mixteco, Zapotec and Chatino. Phone interpreters are available for a wide array of other languages commonly spoken by our patients, such as Tagalog, Chinese and Arabic. We also provide funding for residents who want to pursue elective courses in Medical Spanish.

Rather than siloing LGBTQ care into a separate clinic or rotation we incorporate LGBTQ care into every stage of our training. In our clinic we provide LGBTQ-inclusive care, starting by having sexual orientation and gender identity built into our EHR. We provide PrEP and transgender hormone therapy as a regular part of our continuity clinic. Our hospital is an LGBTQ-inclusive setting as well. We support residents in doing community medicine projects to explicitly reach out to segments of the local LGBTQ community. Faculty experienced in transgender care are available to precept and mentor as needed. HIV primary care is currently available as an elective at our infectious disease site with family medicine-trained physicians. Lastly, we maintain an open and diverse learning community where residents can be open and true to themselves as they learn, thrive, and grow together.

Yes! As a RHEDI (Reproductive Health Education In Family Medicine) Program, we offer comprehensive reproductive health training, including the full array of family planning methods, miscarriage management, and options counseling in our continuity clinic, as well as opt-out abortion training at Planned Parenthood during the GYN rotation. Two of our core faculty are RHEDI trainers. Residents seeking advanced surgical abortion skills can participate in the TEACH Program’s CREATE fellowship during third year. During the GYN rotation in second year, FM residents rotate with OB-GYN attendings and also attend colposcopy clinic. Residents gain experience with procedures such as IUDs and implants in both outpatient and inpatient settings throughout residency.

Yes! Natividad is dedicated to providing a welcoming environment for our residents and their families. We understand the importance of having a good support system during residency to promote resident wellness. We have had many residents build and grow their families during residency, and we always work with the scheduling team to make adjustments to allow for parental leave.

Incoming interns have a call schedule focused on maximizing their inpatient clinical skills and building a strong foundation as they transition to second and third year. We have a night float system in which all residents do a total of 5 weeks of nights per year, which are split into a 2-week block and a 3-week block. The intern on night float takes hospital admissions and learns to take cross-cover on the rest of the patients in the hospital. The R2 on night float covers labor & delivery. The R3 on night float covers the ICU and step-down unit, while also supervising the intern and supporting the R2 as needed. (Check out the “curriculum” tab for more information.) During inpatient rotations, residents take turns covering weekend call, which is set up similarly to the night float roles (1 R1, 1 R2, and 1 R3). While admitting and caring for inpatients, residents build strong relationships with specialists, allowing for continuous teaching and learning throughout residency.

Most residents live in Salinas and the surrounding areas, including Monterey, Seaside, and Carmel Valley, with some living as far as Morgan Hill or Santa Cruz. Residents take advantage of the beautiful landscapes of the Central Coast and unwind by hiking, cycling, surfing, or relaxing at the beach.