Operational experiences during medical residency: perspectives from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center Department of Medicine.

The preparation of military primary care physicians for practice in operational environments has taken on greater importance during the past decade. The Department of Defense military-unique curriculum identifies the elements that should be incorporated into residency training programs to accomplish comprehensive training in operational matters. We describe efforts to integrate the military-unique curriculum into internal medicine residency, including obstacles encountered, so that other programs may learn from our experience.