STFM LAUNCHES PROGRAMS AND SERVICES FOR RESIDENCY PROGRAMS

Traci Nolte; Mary Theobald

doi:10.1370/afm.1428

STFM’s strategic plan challenges the Society to be the leader in developing programs and services to help residencies improve family medicine education and teaching.

STFM members have emphasized the need for cost-and time-effective ways to offer learning opportunities, meet ACGME requirements, and enhance the knowledge and skills of faculty. To meet this need, STFM introduced the Residency Faculty Boot Camp. This series of online, interactive learning experiences covers the most-requested teaching topics, including Dealing With Difficult Residents, Pearls of Precepting, and Providing Feedback to Learners. Each module includes a presentation, videos, and interactive quizzes. Residency programs that purchase the package receive instant updates as participants complete each course. For details, visit http://www.stfm.org/bootcamp.

The new ACGME program requirements in family medicine (Milestones) will require competency assessment of residents. Residencies are being asked to focus more on resident performance and less on the numbers of procedures performed. In early 2012, STFM launched a Resident Competency Assessment Toolkit. The toolkit contains the background, tools, and training to help residency programs demonstrate resident competence and ensure that graduates have the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform their roles in society. More information can be found at http://www.stfm.org/rctoolkit. STFM has offered and will continue to offer train-the-trainer workshops on competency assessment at family medicine conferences and through personalized faculty development training, such as STFM’s On-the-Road workshops.

STFM and the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors (AFMRD) recently launched a multi-year collaborative to build an online resource of peer-reviewed, competency-based curriculum on core topics taught in family medicine residency programs. The Residency Curriculum Resource, which will be organized by post-graduate year (PGY), will serve as a repository of materials that can be implemented and used to satisfy ACGME requirements. Content will be managed by a senior editor and a 6-member editorial board.

The project will include 2 phases.

Phase 1 will convert AAFP’s “Recommended Core Curriculum Guidelines for Family Medicine Residents” into a dynamic web interface organized by PGY, with links to content to address core-learning objectives. Faculty will be able to use the content to standardize teaching and to ensure residents gain competence in the areas outlined in the guidelines. Phase 1 content will be free to all STFM and AFMRD members.

During phase 2, AFMRD and STFM members will submit teaching materials they have developed for lectures and presentations or that they have created specifically for the Residency Curriculum Resource. Submissions will be peer reviewed and refined. Authors with accepted publications will update their content annually. Access to Phase 2 content will be subscription-based. Subscription fees will cover the costs of website updates, the editorial process, and the purchase of licensed content.

In addition, STFM offers a number of valuable resources to help residency programs with faculty development, scholarship, and leadership:

All levels of faculty can receive up-to-date faculty development training by attending the STFM Annual Spring Conference. It offers hundreds of presentations specifically geared for residency program faculty. The Conference on Practice Improvement offers residencies an opportunity to learn as teams about topics central to practice redesign and the patient-centered medical home.
Faculty and residents can access tools and mentoring to meet ACGME scholarly activity requirements using the CAFM Educational Research Alliance.
The STFM Resource Library offers instant access to more than 700 residency-specific resources on a variety of topics, including the patient-centered medical home and practice redesign. The Resource Library also offers interactive wikis on family medicine research, teaching teen health, and behavioral science basics.
Residencies can develop faculty leaders through enrollment in one of STFM’s leadership development opportunities, such as the Emerging Leaders and the Behavioral Science/Family Systems Educator Fellowship. These leadership opportunities provide education and experience to help future faculty leaders rise to the next level.
Current research on residency innovation is available through Family Medicine’s recent dedicated issue on residency redesign.
TeachingPhysician.org connects residency programs with community preceptors. The web resource streamlines training with videos, tips, answers to frequently asked questions, and links to in-depth information on precepting.

STFM is strengthening its offerings to help residencies successfully meet today’s challenges as they train tomorrow’s family physicians. We invite residency faculty to explore the wealth of STFM offerings and offer feedback on challenges that are not yet being met. We strive to be the go-to resource for all family medicine educators.