SFGH (aka "The General" or "The County") has a Ward Service and a Consult Service. Residents do one to two months on the Ward Service as an R2 and two to three as a senior (late R3 year and R4 year). Residents spend 2 months on the Consult Service as a senior resident (usually during the R3 year). The Ward Service ranges from very busy in the winter (10-20 patients) to slow in the summer (5-10). The ward service provides extensive clinical experience in coma, stroke, trauma, intoxications, severe convulsive disorders, and complications of alcoholism and AIDS. Because the city's major emergency room is located here, a significant proportion of patients have acute neurological or neurosurgical problems. The Consult Service is the most active of all specialties in the UCSF system. Yearly, there are approximately 425 admissions and over 750 consultations. While on service at SFGH, residents staff two new patient clinics a week and one additional follow-up clinic per month on site. Each year there are about 3900 clinic visits. Residents are expected to dedicate time to teaching medical students. Call frequency at SFGH is 7 nights per month.
