Name: Tyler Brinkman, MD
Medical school you attended/year you graduated:
American University of the Caribbean (AUC)/2014
Residency/fellowship at UNMC:
Internal Medicine, 2014 – 2017
Chief Resident, 2017 – present
Program director: James O’Dell, MD
How long is your training program and how long have you been at UNMC:
Internal medicine training is three years, and our chief year is an additional one year. In total, I’ve been at UNMC for 3 ½ years now.
What do you like the most about your training program:
My favorite part of residency and my chief year is the comradery with my co-workers and the opportunity to interact with people all over the UNMC and VA campuses. There isn’t a clinical building or floor that we don’t take care of patients on. With that extended footprint comes a lot of interactions with different nurses, techs, pharmacists, social workers, environmental service providers, etc. Building relationships with all the people I get to work with has been great.
What challenges do you foresee in graduate medical education in the future:
Finding a balance between experiential, patient-centered learning and learning to function within an ever-changing health care delivery system. There is an increased focus on fiscal solvency, meeting quality metrics, and documentation, which do not always align with medical education priorities.
List some accomplishments that you are proud of:
Being the first in my family to graduate from college as well as professional school.
Being named provider of the month/quarter on two different units.
Tell us three things about you that others may not know:
1. I’ve spent 7 percent of my life living outside of the U.S.
2. I’ve had 14 teeth pulled.
3. I collect antique canes.