STFM RELEASES NEW MEDICAL SCHOOL RESOURCES

Medical School Faculty Fundamentals Certificate Program

According to a 2012 study, new faculty identify 3 top priorities that contribute to their academic and professional success: teaching skills, scholarly activity, and career development.¹ The Medical School Faculty Fundamentals Certificate Program was developed by the STFM Medical Student Education Committee, STFM staff, and subject matter experts to meet these needs for faculty with fewer than 5 years of professional experience.

This assessment-based online program includes self-led courses with assignments to provide foundational training for medical school faculty. Completion of the program requires approximately 35 hours and covers: the structure and requirements of medical education; how to be an effective and efficient faculty member; the nuts and bolts of curriculum development and teaching; strategies for assessment, feedback, and evaluation of medical students; and academic advancement.

Each course within the program includes readings, videos, interactive modules, quizzes, and assignments. Topics include:

• Time Management in Your New Role

• Advising Medical Students

• Giving Feedback

• Curriculum Development

• Clinical Teaching Skills

• Classroom Teaching

• Assessment and Evaluation

• Scholarly Activity

• Writing for Publication

• Incorporating Students Into Your Clinical Workflow

• Medical Students in Difficulty: Academic and Behavioral Problems

• Academic Structure & Professional Advancement

• LCME and COCA Requirements

• Establishing Professional Boundaries

Assignments require participants to apply what they’ve learned to their own roles and gather information about how the topics apply to their own institutions. For some course assignments, a faculty instructor provides personalized feedback.

To graduate, participants must complete all courses and assignments and pass a final exam. Graduates receive a certificate, a letter of congratulations noting the accomplishment, a letter to their Department Chair, and a press release to distribute locally.

Student Onboarding Resources

Free clerkship onboarding resources for students were released by STFM in April 2019. Departments, specialties, and health professions across the country are encouraged to use these new resources to standardize the preparation of students for clerkships and reduce administrative burden for community preceptors.

Schools can integrate the following resources into preclerkship curriculum by having their students:

• Get practical tips on “How to Be Awesome in an Ambulatory Clinical Rotation”

• Complete online modules on:

  • How to Write a High-Quality Note in the Electronic Medical Record

  • How to Perform Medication Reconciliation

  • Motivational Interviewing: a Structured Approach to Behavior Change

• Fill out a student passport that provides preceptors with basic information about the student’s training, screenings, and objectives for the current rotation. Clerkship coordinators submit the passport, along with a Readiness for Clinical Work letter, to clerkship sites to streamline the onboarding process and ensure that students are ready to learn and contribute when they begin their clerkship.

To ensure adequate preparation of students, clerk-ships are also encouraged to evaluate whether their preclerkship curriculum meets the goals and objectives in the AAMC’s Recommendations for Preclerkship Clinical Skills Education for Undergraduate Medical Education.

These resources were created by the Tactic 3 Team of the Preceptor Expansion Initiative, an interprofessional, interdisciplinary initiative to address the shortage of clinical training sites for students. The initiative is funded by STFM, the American Board of Family Medicine Foundation, and the Physician Assistant Education Association.

Community Faculty Self-Assessment Tool

A new Community Faculty Self-Assessment tool on TeachingPhysician.org provides a way for community faculty to assess their skills in five competency domains: the teaching environment, professionalism, learner development, assessment, and curricular content. The results of the assessment, which are completely private and anonymous, are linked to faculty development content on TeachingPhysician.org.

The Community Faculty Competencies Self-Assessment tool was developed by the STFM Faculty Development Collaborative in partnership with the Preceptor Expansion Initiative. After the competencies were defined, members of STFM wrote and peer-reviewed more than 70 new pages of content for TeachingPhysician.org to provide specific tips for enhancing teaching skills for each level and domain of the competencies.

The self-assessment tool can be used for baseline and post-intervention measurement by those participating in the ABFM Precepting Performance Improvement Program, which allows academic units to offer Performance Improvement credit (MOC IV) to family physicians who teach medical students or residents and who participate in a teaching improvement activity. After self-identifying competency levels, preceptors can review faculty development content on Teaching-Physician.org, test their new knowledge in a teaching setting, and then complete a follow-up self-assessment.