Graduate medical education, or GME, is that critical period of intense work wherein the medical school graduate acquires the skills, attitudes and knowledge necessary to enter private practice or academic medicine in their specialty of choice.

Residency lasts from three to seven years, depending on the specialty or subspecialty goal. In GME, the graduate physician assumes progressive levels of responsibility for the care of patients under the supervision of faculty. The goal is for residents to be competent and ready to be independent practitioners at the end of their training.

University of Florida College of Medicine – Jacksonville programs attract residents from all regions of the United States. Overall, 50-70 percent of the graduates of UF College of Medicine – Jacksonville residency programs practice in Florida.

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) is the national body charged with evaluating and accrediting institutions that sponsor GME and programs that provide GME in the United States. The ACGME’s mission is to improve health care by assessing and advancing the quality of resident physicians’ education through exemplary accreditation. The University of Florida College of Medicine – Jacksonville is an ACGME-accredited sponsoring institution, which is recognized by the ACGME as a separate sponsoring institution for GME programs from that in Gainesville. The Senior Associate Dean of Educational Affairs serves as the Designated Institutional Official (DIO) for the UF College of Medicine – Jacksonville — a position required by the ACGME. The primary teaching hospital for most of the UF College of Medicine – Jacksonville programs is UF Health Jacksonville; Wolfson Children's Hospital is the primary teaching hospital for the pediatric residency and fellowships. In addition, the institution has educational agreements with numerous other facilities in the area for specific rotations.

All University of Florida College of Medicine – Jacksonville GME programs have embraced the goal of instruction and assessment of resident/fellow competency in the six domains — patient care, medical knowledge, professionalism, interpersonal and communication skills, practice-based learning and improvement and systems-based practice. In addition, the ACGME has mandated that residents work no more than 80 hours per week, on average. The UF College of Medicine – Jacksonville programs are meeting these requirements while preserving the educational components of GME. Moreover, the institution has developed and continues to encourage development of a number of innovative projects in medical education.