A NEW FOCUS ON RESEARCH

Self-assessment is an ongoing and increasingly extensive process. As a matter of basic ethics and good conscience, the ABFM cannot require diplomates to scrutinize their knowledge and practices if we are not equally willing to engage in a perpetual and data driven self-evaluation. As such, a vector of the ABFM’s research direction will be self-reflective. We will evaluate the effects of changes instituted since ABFM began the Maintenance of Certification processes in 2004 and the validity of our assessment processes. There are many questions that we have addressed already, but there are far more that have yet to be addressed. For example, we have been gathering data from participants in the Maintenance of Certification program regarding their impressions of the MC-FP process. Feedback has been markedly positive. After completing a single Self-Assessment Module (SAM), one-half of all respondents indicated that they will change their practice as a result of their participation. More than 90% of these physicians listed 1 or more specific behaviors that they intend to alter based on material presented in the SAM process. Although this data appears positive, we do not assume that the data are either static or definitive.

Another key initiative for research is the promotion of research within family medicine. This will be accomplished, in part, by making de-identified data available to family medicine affiliated organizations, for research purposes related to family medicine. To that end, we are encouraging submission of data and research requests for review. Historically, the ABFM has supported research of this type on an ad hoc basis, as inquiries about data availability arise. However, we now seek sources for productive research collaboration on both a long-term and short-term basis. Some examples of requests that we have had in the past several years include whether exam scores were affected positively or negatively by changes to work hours rules and whether the presence of affiliated Sports Medicine fellowship programs affect performance on Sports Medicine-related certification exam questions. The ABFM would like to thank those who have submitted research support requests. The breadth of inquiries is a testament to the diversity of intellectual interests across our specialty. There remain a multitude of relevant and interesting questions to be asked by creative family medicine researchers.

One of our large ongoing projects is a practice efficiency study with the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) and the Dartmouth Primary Care Study Group. Another project that is similar in scope is working to identify contributing factors and multi-year trends of performance differences based on the location of medical training (United States, Canada, other international locations). This issue arose initially after a report showing that Canadian-trained physicians performed persistently highly upon examination compared to the overall group of candidates. If training differences or other factors can be identified that appear to confer a higher level of medical knowledge, then their dissemination potentially could be of widespread benefit.

• © 2008 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.