Welcome to the STFM Messenger Online
The STFM Messenger is the official news publication of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine.
Each month, members with e-mail addresses on file with STFM will receive an e-mail with links to the Messenger's online stories. Members will be also be able to access the Messenger's current issue as well as its archives on the STFM Web site at www.stfm.org/Messenger.
We welcome your feedback on our member newsletter; send your ideas and comments to Traci Nolte, tnolte@stfm.org.
Annual Meeting Photo Highlights
Laurel Milberg, PhD, Forbes Regional Family Practice Residency, Monroeville, Pa, assisted STFM Annual Spring Conference organizers by reminding everyone that breakfast was over and the plenary would be starting shortly. Great Job Laurel! Everyone actually listened.
From left to right: STFM Past President William Mygdal, EdD, STFM Program Chair Jim Tysinger, PhD, and Family Medicine Editor Barry Weiss, MD, cat up with each other at the Annual Spring Conference.
Representatives from Radcliffe Publishing visit with an attendee at the Annual Spring Conference. STFM's exhibit hall contains a wide variety of exhibitors from publishers, medical software, medical associations, and family medicine residency programs and departments. Information about exhibit space for the 2009 meeting will be available on the STFM Web site in August. Space is limited and has sold out for the past 3 years.
Breaks following morning plenaries give attendees a great opportunity to network with other colleagues.
FMDRL Steering Committee Members Richard Usatine, MD, (right) and Jacob Reider, MD (left), proudly display their allegiance with STFM's Family Medicine Digital Resources Library and Craig Gjerde, PhD, (center) looks on. FMDRL offers more than 1,300 resources for use by family medicine educators.Visit www.fmdrl.org to browse the library.
The STFM Communications Committee tried something new this year during the STFM Awards Luncheon in conjunction with the Annual Spring Conference. We wanted to get attendees thinking about fellow colleagues who were worthy of recognition. We asked all luncheon attendees to submit suggestions for possible award nominees. We received many great suggestions. Unfortunately, during transportation back to the STFM headquarters, these suggestions were lost. Please help us recreate these suggestions. Fill out this form and e-mail it back to tnolte@stfm.org or fax to 913-906-6096. More information about the call for 2009 STFM Award Nominations will be available in August.
Congratulation to FMDRL Ipod Contest Winner!
Carlos Aguero, MD,
University of Illinois, Rockford, was the winner of our 8G Ipod Nano Giveaway at the Annual Spring Conference. To qualify, conference attendees had to upload a
resource to STFM’s Family Medicine Digital Resources Library between April 30–May 9, 2008.
If you would like to see the resources that have been uploaded from the Annual Spring Conference click here or search FMDRL for your topic of interest today. Also, if you have a great resource to show, go to www.fmdrl.org and click on “upload” to start sharing it today.
Advanced Access Scheduling
A basic tenet of the new model of care and the medical home is improved patient access to care. Although patient access can be accomplished by phone or Internet, through group visits or by patient forums, the sine qua non of ambulatory clinician-patient interaction is the office visit. Timely access to the office visit is therefore the main goal of scheduling systems and, along with ability and affability, has always been at the forefront of patient satisfaction and a successful medical practice.
A new scheduling system to improve patient access to office visits developed by associates of the Institute of Health Care Improvement is that of open or advanced access. One of the goals of this scheduling system is to remove artificial obstacles that make it difficult for a patient to have an office appointment. Some of these obstacles are multiple visit types, variable visit times, a distinction between routine and urgent care, office hours booked months in advance, and triage of non-urgent patients. Under advanced access scheduling, the bulk of the appointments are made the same day, visit types and times are reduced to a minimum, and choice of when the patient wants to be seen is enhanced. It is scheduling the way patients-as-consumers think, and allowing them access to care when they want or need it. This consumer-like thinking is the same that has lead to the new retail store clinics with nurse practitioners treating common problems on the patients’/consumers’ schedule.
As with any change in office management policy, it can be argued that scheduling systems are more easily implemented in non-academic settings. Those practices with residency programs have to juggle many variables, including the 80-hour work week, mandatory and elective off-site rotations, and variability of learners. In addition, preserving continuity of patient care, a bedrock concept of family medicine and one that is mandated by the Residency Review Committee, has to be a priority for both attendings and residents. For those practices that host a large contingent of medical students, patient scheduling issues per se are usually not as important but nonetheless should be able to be understood by any learner.
Education is paramount to better achieve the goals of improved patient access through Advanced Access Scheduling or any the other goals of the New Model. Family medicine has always been at the forefront of education, especially through STFM, and practice management has been part and parcel of this education. In addition, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has designated practice-based learning and improvement as a competency for the residents. STFM's Family Medicine Digital Resources Library (FMDRL) is yet another way that family medicine and especially STFM are leaders in such education. FMDRL’s Competency-based Curriculum for the New Model is a great resource to further all the goals of the New Model of Care, including that of Advanced Access Scheduling.
The Advanced Access Scheduling Curriculum was developed by faculty who were successful in both implementation of and sustaining the change to Advanced Access Scheduling in an academic setting. This includes the preservation of continuity of care in the resident and faculty practice. By providing an outline or template on Advanced Access Scheduling, the Advanced Access Scheduling Curriculum allows for individual practice variations as well as educational timelines and goals. Any site, academic or private, large or small, would benefit from the baseline knowledge provided. A site does not need to be using Advanced Access Scheduling to have it as part of the practice management curriculum.
Articles and Publications:
• Berwick SM. Escape fire: lessons for the future of health care. New York: The Commonwealth Fund, 2002.
• Martin JC, Avant RF, Bowman MA, et al; Future of Family Medicine Project Leadership Committee. The Future of Family Medicine: a collaborative project of the family medicine community. Ann Fam Med 2004;Mar-Apr;2:Suppl 1:S3-S32.
• Kennedy JG, Hsu JT. Implementation of an open access scheduling system in a residency training program. Fam Med 2003;35:666-70.
• Maeseneer JM, DePrins L, Gosset C, Heyerick J. Provider continuity in family medicine. Ann Fam Med 2003;1:144-8.
• Murray M, Tantau C. Same-day appointments: exploding the access paradigm. Fam Pract Manag 2000;7:45-50.
• Murray M. Answers to your questions about same-day scheduling. Fam Pract Manag 2005;12:59-64.
• Murray M, Berwick DM. Advanced access: reducing waiting and delays in primary care. JAMA 2003:289:1035-40.
• Nutting PA, Goodwin MA, Flocke SA, Zyzanski SJ, Stange KC. Continuity of primary care: to whom does it matter and when? Ann Fam Med 2003;1:149-55.
• O’Hare CD, Corlett J. The outcomes of open-access scheduling. Fam Pract Manag 2004;11:35-8.
• Scherger JE. The end of the beginning: the redesign imperative in family medicine. Fam Med 2005;37:513-6.
• Steinbauer JR, Korell K, Erdin J, Spann SJ. Implementing open access scheduling in an academic practice. Fam Pract Manag 2006;13:59-64.
• Valko GP. Open access scheduling. In: Nash DB et al, eds. Practicing medicine in the 21st century. American College of Physician Executives, October 2006.
Web sites:
• www.ihi.org—the Web site for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
• www.va.gov/oaa/teaching_tools/default.asp—Adapted from Mark Murray, MD, MPA, and Marie W. Schall and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement 2001, this Web site offers teaching case studies for its internal medicine clinics in the Veterans Administration health system. (Advanced Clinic Access Initiative, National SubCommittee on Academic Environments in conjunction with the Office of Academic Affairs and the Office of the VA Deputy Undersecretary of Health for Operations and Management).
Regional Faculty Development Series Workshop to Focus on Practice Redesign in Residencies
Mark your calendar—October 24–25,
2008—for the Regional Faculty Development Series Workshop, “Training for the Patient-centered
Medical Home: Integrating Practice Redesign Into the Residency Curriculum,”
to be held in Columbia, SC.
This workshop will include a variety
of topics centered on the patient-centered medical home.
The morning keynote will discuss the concepts of the patient-centered medical home and its fundamental infrastructure differences from current practice. It will introduce the subject, define terms and concepts, and “fire up the troops” on the imperative we have to redesign our teaching practices and design curriculum to support this. The afternoon keynote address is titled "Professional Rejuvenation in the Midst of Transformative Change"
Additional topics will include:
• “Advanced Access: Unique Challenges and Opportunities in Academic Settings”
• “HIT Customization to Support QI in Residency Programs”
• “Team in Training: Making the Chronic Care Model Real for Learners”
• “Change Management: Creating and Sustaining Redesign Progress”
• “Bridging the Gap: Integrating QI and Practice Redesign Into the Inpatient Teaching Setting”
• “The Patient-centered Medical Home—NCQA Certification for Residency Programs”
• “Taking It Back Home: Being an Agent of Educational Change”
Watch of more information, including location and registration details in upcoming Messengers.
STFM Academic Track Schedule Set
STFM and the Education Committee will sponsor five sessions as part of the STFM Academic Track at the 2008 National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students. The conference will be held July 31–August 3 in Kansas City, Mo. The Academic Track is a series of workshops designed for students and residents who are interested in exploring career opportunities as teachers of family medicine and/or want to further develop their teaching and career-building skills. What follows are the 2008 Academic Track sessions, followed by their presenters:
Applying to Residency: From Application to Interview
James Tysinger, PhD, University of Texas HSC at San Antonio
(This session is jointly sponsored by the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors (AFMRD) and STFM.)
International Medical Graduates: Applying to Family Medicine Residency Programs (by the International Medical Graduate)
Suparana Chhibber, MD, San Jacinto Methodist Hospital, Baytown, Tex
International Rotations: How to Establish and/or Maintain an International Elective in Your Medical School/Residency
Rob Hatch, MD, MPH, University of Florida
Seeking and Recognizing Feedback About Your Performance on Clinical Rotations
John Delzell, Jr, MD, MSPH, and Heidi Chumley, MD, University of Kansas Medical Center
Fellowships in Family Medicine
Erik Lindbloom, MD, MSPH, University of Missouri
Forum for Behavioral Science in Family Medicine
The Forum for Behavioral Science in Family Medicine will be held September 25–28, 2008, at the downtown Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile. The theme is “Integrating and Expanding Behaviorial Science in the New Medical Home.” Visit www.stfm.org/bsconf/bs2008/index.htm for more details and to register online.
STFM 2008–2009 Conference Calendar
Forum for Behavioral Science in Family Medicine—September 24–28, 2008, Chicago
Regional Faculty Development Series Workshop: Training for the Patient-centered Medical Home: Integrating Practice Redesign Into the Residency Curriculum. October 25, 2008, Columbia, SC
Northeast Region Meeting—October 30–November 2, 2008
Conference on Practice Improvement—December 4–7, 2008, Savannah, Ga
Predoctoral Education Conference—January 22–25, 2009, Savannah, Ga
Predoctoral Directors' Development Institute—January 22, 2009 at the Predoctoral Education Conference and April 29, 2009 at the Annual Spring Conference in Denver
FMCC Conference Held in Washington, DC
The Academic Family Medicine Advocacy Alliance (AFMAA), which
includes STFM and the AAFP, held the Family Medicine Congressional
Conference (FMCC) on May 19–20 in Washington, DC. The conference, which
hosted a record number of attendees this year, taught family physicians
and educators from across the country how to advocate for the
discipline in Washington and at home. A wide range of topics were
presented by a diverse group of speakers, including Congressional staff
members, political correspondents, family physicians, and other members
of the health care policy community. There was even a brief speech by
the chair of the Health Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means
Committee, Congressman Pete Stark (D-CA), who received the AAFP
National Leadership in Government Service Award. Attendees used their
newly gained knowledge to hold meetings with their elected officials
and staff and lobbied on crucial issues affecting family medicine such
as Medicare physician payments, Title VII Health Professions Training
Programs, and Graduate Medical Education payment issues. One
participant called the conference “extremely valuable. I learned so
much about the legislative process. It was eye opening.” Some attendees
remarked that there was much gained from this conference in addition to
the training they received. Said one such member, “The networking was
of immense value here in DC.”
To find out how to attend future
FMCCs or to find other ways to become a successful advocate for family
medicine, contact Eric Gascho at egascho@stfm.org or 202-986-3325.
Call for Proposals for Dedicated Issues of Family Medicine
The editors of Family Medicine invite STFM interest groups to consider submitting proposals for dedicated issues of the journal on topics pertinent to their groups' mission. Information on preparing proposals for dedicated issues can be found at www.stfm.org/deadi.html. Questions can be addressed to Barry Weiss, MD, the journal's editor, at bdweiss@u.arizona.edu.
Family Medicine Seeking New Editor for "International Family Medicine Education" Column
The editor of the “International Family Medicine” column in Family Medicine reviews articles published in medical journals from around the world to find articles pertinent to medical education and resident training in family medicine and general practice. Articles may relate to the status of medical training, innovations in education, or medical care organization and delivery. Topics may also address health and illness issues relevant to family phyisicians throughout the world.
The editor will provide a citation for each article, a synopsis of the article’s content, and a brief discussion about the relevance and importance of the article. The editor may write these reviews or enlist others to write them. Examples of the International Family Medicine Education column can be found in the March and April 2008 (and earlier) issues of Family Medicine.
Based on experience of the previous editor, the keys to success are having contacts in family medicine education around the world, the ability to find articles of interest from publications in a variety of nations (not just English-speaking countries), and finding articles in journals that may not be listed in MEDLINE.
Applications for this position, which is voluntary and involves no compensation, should be submitted to Barry Weiss, MD, editor at bdweiss@u.arizona.edu. Highest priority will be given to applications received by July 15, 2008. Applications should include a copy of your CV and a one-page write-up about how you would approach the editorship of this feature. Questions about the feature can be addressed to Dr Weiss at bdweiss@u.arizona.edu or to Jan Cartwright at the journal production office at fmjournal@stfm.org.
Do You Have an Open Position to Fill?
STFM’s Fall 2008 Positions and Opportunities (P&O) Book will be distributed via e-mail on September 10, 2008, to all STFM members and Annual Spring Conference non-member registrants. Don’t miss this chance to let family medicine’s key faculty know about your position openings. Thousands of recipients will be able to immediately view and respond to your showcased opportunity from the comfort of their own chair! Click here to see advertising rates and deadlines.
Thank You, Conference Mentors!
The STFM Group on Women in Family Medicine and the Group on Faculty Development teamed up this year to provide “meeting mentors” to new attendees at the 2008 STFM Annual Spring Conference. With participation from both STFM groups, 14 mentor/mentee pairs were matched up, an increase from last year. The pairs communicated by e-mail, and many met at the conference. New attendees received advice on the conference schedule, STFM groups, and career questions.
We would like to thank this year’s volunteer mentors: Alice Fornari, EdD, RD; Craig Gjerde, PhD; Marji Gold, MD; Dona Harris, PhD; Katherine Margo, MD; Katherine Neely, MD; Heather Paladine, MD; Cindy Passmore, MA; Jo Marie Reilly, MD; Sarina Schrager, MD, MS; Mindy Smith, MD, MS; James Tysinger, PhD; Farion Williams, MD; and Brenda Wilson.
Both groups are a good place for STFM members who would like ongoing mentoring as well. Members can sign up for STFM groups by going to www.stfm.org/MemberDataUpdate/groupsIndex.cfm. Join group collaborative areas, including listserves, by visiting www.fmdrl.org and editing your groups in your profile.
New Appointment
Elizabeth Burns, MD, MA, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of North Dakota, has been named as the new assistant dean, president, and CEO of the Michigan State University Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies.
Kudos
Paul Lyons, MD, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Temple University, was presented the 2008 National Golden Apple for Teaching Excellence Award from the American Medical Student Association. The National Golden Apple award honors the contributions of a medical school professor who has made a significant impact on the educational value that a medical student receives.
STFM Past President John Rogers, MD, MPH, MEd, Baylor College of Medicine, received a Special Recognition Award from The American Psychological Association (APA). James Bray, PhD, 2009 APA president and STFM member, presented the Award to Dr Rogers at the STFM Annual Spring Conference in Baltimore.
New Members
| Alabama Daniel Avery, MD |
New York Carlos Elguero, MD Sherenne Simon, MPH Lee Stetzer, MD |
| California Sumita Kalra, DO |
North Carolina Jennifer Fisher, MPH |
| Georgia Frank Thayer |
Oregon Clara LaBoy, MS, PA-C |
| Hawaii Jim Donovan, MD |
Pennsylvania F. Samuel Faber, MD |
| Illinois Kara Cummins, MD Andrew Dykens, MD Mithila Janakiram, MD Gayle Smith, DO |
Texas Cynthia Anderson, MD |
| Michigan Algirdas Juocys, DO Edward Rohn, MA |
West Virginia Susan Berry, MBA, MA Kathy Fry, CDV, CAVS Alicia Luckton, MS |
| Minnesota David Bucher, MD |
Puerto Rico Lourdes Sepulveda, MD |
New Faculty Scholars Award
This month we begin a series of columns featuring STFM Foundation programs. The first is the New Faculty Scholars Award. Our goal is to share information and personal stories about Foundation programs to help describe the impace these activities have on members' lives and the discipline.
This award provides scholarships to the STFM Annual Spring Conference for STFM members who are in their first 2 years as full-time faculty and who exhibit outstanding leadership potential. Since its inception in 1988, this program has supported the attendance of more than 90 new faculty at the conference. From four to seven scholarships of $1,500 each are given annually.
A scholarship to a conference can serve as a catalyst for more significant involvement in a number of career-building opportunities for recipients. Here is how Alan Douglass, MD, describes his experience:
“I received the New Faculty Scholars Award in 1998. My first trip to the STFM Annual Spring Conference, made possible by that award, was truly memorable. I met people who have become wonderful friends and mentors for over a decade. I attended a variety of conference workshops that gave me a broad perspective of and appreciation for the educational, research, and clinical activities of my colleagues. Perhaps most importantly, I was inspired to make a contribution to family medicine beyond the day-to-day requirements of my residency faculty position. I became active in several groups, eventually became a group chair, and have led several major STFM projects, including Smiles for Life: A National Oral Health Curriculum. I’ve clearly become a much better educator and clinician though my association with STFM.”
Leadership development has been the focus of Foundation programs, and Dr Douglass exemplifies the benefit derived to family medicine through support of junior faculty.
For more information about the New Faculty Scholars Award and to view a list of past recipients, visit www.stfm.org/foundation/newfaculty.cfm
Merit Award Nominations Sought
The Institute on Medicine as a
Profession is seeking nominations for its new Physician Advocacy Merit Award. Each year, these $10,000 Merit
Awards will recognize physician advocates for their commitments and
accomplishments. Click here for complete details and application guidelines. The application deadline is