UPDATE ON THE P⁴ PROJECT

Five months into the first year of implementation, the P⁴ (Preparing the Personal Physician for Practice) residencies have their hands full. Most have completed IRB processes, and a significant minority of programs have completed the “baseline” data collection about the residencies and their residents. The residencies certainly have not lacked for ambition, and implementation is presenting virtually every program with a set of challenges.

The first “collaboration visits” with the innovating residencies by the Oregon Health and Science University evaluation team and a representative from the Steering Committee have been inspiring. Each program has its own character and culture, but all are clearly dedicated to their residents and learning how to improve family medicine residencies. Some of the programs already have been successful at garnering additional financial support for their efforts.

A number of different communication strategies are being implemented, led by former Pisacano Scholars Erika Bliss and Marguerite Duane, to inform students and residents, residencies, and the family of family medicine. The P⁴ Web site, http://www.transformed.com/p4.cfm, is a good source for those wanting to keep in touch with the project. Starting in 2008, a new look and additional information will be added to this Web site that enhance efforts to share learnings.

The next meeting of the P⁴ program participants will be in early 2008, and everyone is expecting this meeting to be filled with a lot of discussion about the real problems faced when making substantial changes to a residency. Meanwhile, Residency Programs Solutions (RPS) and P⁴ are collaborating to learn more about assisting residencies as they manage change. Managing change is now a crucial skill set for residencies, just as it is for family physicians.

• © 2008 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.