MEETING SCHOLARLY ACTIVITY REQUIREMENTS IN A FAMILY MEDICINE RESIDENCY PROGRAM

Scholarship is an essential component of a family medicine residency program evidenced by the requirements outlined by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Review Committee - Family Medicine (RC-FM).¹ These guidelines require faculty to establish and maintain an environment of inquiry and scholarship with an active research component and residents to complete 2 scholarly activities, at least 1 of which should be a quality improvement project. In addition, the curriculum should include basic principles of research. Unfortunately, the area of faculty scholarship is the most common “Area for Improvement” and the area of scholarly activities is the fourth most common citation by the RC-FM.²

Family medicine research is critical because its results enable us to provide better quality care for our patients and allow us as a discipline to move closer to achieving the Triple Aim of “better health, better health care, and affordable cost.”^3–5 In a family medicine residency program, research can help create a culture of curiosity and inquiry.⁴ Residents provided training in research are more likely to continue with scholarly pursuits after graduation.⁶

However, scholarship incorporates more than research. A residency program can embrace the expanded definition of scholarship to enhance its outcome. Academic work includes the scholarship of discovery, of integration, of application, and of teaching.⁷ An evidence-based review article for a family medicine audience is an example of the scholarship of integration, while publication of quality improvement work demonstrates the scholarship of application. The scholarship of teaching is a vibrant research area in the family medicine community. All 4 scholarly areas have potential to improve care for our patients and the education of learners in family medicine in a way that classic bench or disease-oriented clinical research might not.

Factors associated with increased resident scholarly output include: dedicated research time, resident recognition for scholarship, a local research day, academic advancement linked to scholarship for faculty, and residency director involved in research.⁸ Faculty skills and involvement in research, accessible research professionals, a specific curriculum, and a research committee are also likely to be important for scholarly production.^9–10 Resident scholarly activity requirements can be met by disseminating quality improvement projects, also required by the ACGME.¹¹

There are many ways to disseminate scholarly work, including presentations and publications. Presentations can be oral (seminars, lectures, workshop) or by poster. There are numerous national meetings where scholarly activity is presented including: the Annual Spring Conference of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM), the STFM Conference on Practice Improvement, the North American Primary Care Research Group Annual Meeting, the American Academy of Family Physicians National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students, and Program Directors Workshop & Residency Program Solutions Residency Education Symposium. Many regions, hospitals, medical schools, or cities have their own academic presentation days that meet resident scholarly activity requirements. These meetings are also a great place to be inspired by the work of colleagues.

Publications can include case reports or series, review articles, original research (quantitative or qualitative), book chapters, and online or other digital resources. Original research with a primary care focus is published in Annals of Family Medicine, Family Medicine, Journal of Family Practice, and Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, to name a few. The STFM recently created Peer-Reviewed Reports in Medical Education Research (PRIMER), an online journal that will publish brief reports on original research relevant to education in family medicine.

The RC-FM provides guidelines on how it interprets scholarly activity for compliance with the Program Requirements and examples of how this requirement can be met.¹²

Curiosity is an essential trait of an excellent family physician. By nurturing a culture of inquiry and scholarly activity in residency, our programs can support the excellence of the next generation of family physicians.

• © 2017 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.