About the General Medical Clinic

The General Medicine Clinic (GMC) is the adult outpatient clinic at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH).  It is a vital part of both San Francisco’s public health system and the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine.  The mission of the GMC is to provide comprehensive, high quality primary care services to adults, and to provide an excellent teaching environment for students and residents at UCSF.

During the 2004-2005 year, the clinic provided approximately 25,000 patient visits to more than 5,000 individual patients, the majority of whom were low-income people with complex medical conditions. 

GMC is staffed by UCSF faculty from the SFGH Division of General Internal Medicine and UCSF Internal Medicine residents from the Primary Care and Categorical Residency Programs.  Nursing, paraprofessional, and clerical staff are provided by SFGH.

Clinic structure

The General Medicine Clinic provides a wide range of services for patients, including primary care, urgent care, telephone advice, nurse triage, nutritional counseling, refill clinic, HIV/Early Access, and social work services.  Our nurses have special expertise in smoking cessation, stress reduction, and diabetes education. 

GMC patients select or are assigned to a Primary Care Provider in order to ensure continuity of care.  As a hospital-based outpatient service, GMC accepts patients referred from a number of sources, including SFGH’s Emergency Department, Urgent Care, Inpatient Units (patients being discharged), as well as patients who self-refer. 

Hours of Operation

The clinic is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. In addition, there is a Tuesday evening clinic from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.  

Special Features

Diversity of Patients & Staff

San Francisco is well known for its cultural and ethnic diversity, and both patients and staff of SFGH/GMC reflect that diversity: 27% of our patients are Latino, 25% African-American, 23% White, 22% Asian Pacific Islander, and 3% other race or ethnicity.  Forty percent of our patients have a primary language other than English, with Spanish, Cantonese, Vietnamese,Russian, and Tagalog the most commonly encountered languages.

Excellent Teaching Environment

The General Medicine Clinic has over many years been consistently rated one of the best sites for resident continuity clinics.  While the complexity and pace of patient care can be challenging, attending physicians are available on-site and after-hours to provide consultation and advice as needed.  Clinical experience is supplemented by daily conferences that cover a breadth of outpatient medicine topics.  GMC is also fortunate in having experienced nursing and clinic support staff who facilitate the learning experience for residents. 

Quality Involvement

The General Medicine Clinic has a strong commitment to quality improvement, and welcomes resident and fellow involvement in improving our processes of care.  Ongoing initiatives include tracking programs to improve preventive health measures and efforts to improve the quality of diabetes care through chronic disease management programs.

Ideal Site for Performing Research Projects

The General Medicine Clinic provides access to a diverse adult patient population, and more importantly, access to clinical and non-clinical data for these patients.  Residents, fellows, and attendings interested in performing research projects involving GMC patients must obtain approval from the GMC Medical Director and other appropriate members of the Division of General Internal Medicine at SFGH.  See GMC Research Guidelines.