Family Medicine Residency Program
Didactics
The Memorial Family Medicine curriculum is based on American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Core Educational Guidelines for Family Medicine Residents and meets current Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) program requirements. These documents are available in full through the Residency Coordinator's office or at the above organizations' web sites (http://www.aafp.org/eduguide.xml and http://www.acgme.org/acWebsite/home/home.asp, respectively). All residents and faculty have input into the curriculum, which will provide the skills and training needed for family physicians of the future.
Resident education takes place in a number of different ways, including four-week block rotations, continuity experiences and conferences/workshops. Block rotations take place in a variety of settings and are taught by residency faculty and volunteer attendings. Each rotation provides a concentrated and focused experience in one or more facets of family medicine.
Longitudinal Experiences
In addition to the focused block rotations certain educational components are provided in a longitudinal fashion. The most important of these is the Family Medicine Center time. In addition to their regularly scheduled patient-care days, PGY I residents spend one full month in their continuity practice during their Ambulatory Family Medicine rotation. Other continuity experiences include Balint Group, Practice Management, the Research Seminar and various conferences and workshops.
Balint Group
Balint Group is scheduled for PGY I residents on a monthly basis and is scheduled for PGY II and PGY III residents as needed. The behavioral scientist and one of the Family Medicine faculty facilitate these groups. The focus is on the interpersonal and emotional components involved in the practice of medicine including communications and relationships with patients and their families, other residents, faculty and staff.
Practice Management
Practice Management is geared towards preparing residents to organize their own practices. It gives them a background in managed care organizations, risk management, marketing, contracts, malpractice insurance and financial planning. The program's administrator organizes and presents the program with outside speakers and resources. The curriculum will include a minimum of 100 hours of training with the greatest amount of this time reserved for the third year of training.
Research Seminar
The Research Seminar is for first-year residents. Meetings are weekly starting in September and ending in June. The seminar is broken into three modules:
- Basic concepts in statistics, measurement and research design (30 percent of the time),
- Principles of evidence-based medicine (30 percent of the time),
- Practice in the evaluation of the medical literature (30 percent of the time).
In addition 10 percent of the seminar time will be devoted to the development of a viable research proposal. As a part of the Research Seminar, each resident is required to produce a research proposal that will meet Institutional Review Board (IRB) standards and quality for IRB approval. Although execution of the proposal is not required, the resident does have the option of executing the proposal during the remaining years of their residency.
Conferences
Conferences are scheduled throughout the year on topics relevant to Family Medicine. Residents are involved in selecting both topics and speakers. Conferences occur several days a week and include didactics, case presentations and group discussions. Procedural workshops are scheduled throughout the year. Residents evaluate conferences for content, appropriateness and presentation.