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.
STFM Elects New Officers
The Annual STFM Business Meeting on Friday, April 27, began with the announcement of officer elections. Elected to the STFM Board were President-Elect Scott Fields, MD, Oregon Health and Science University; CAS Representative Mark Johnson, MD, MPH, UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School; and Member-at-Large Ellen Whiting, MEd, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine.
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Scott Fields, MD President Elect |
Mark Johnson, MD, MPH CAS Representative |
Ellen Whiting, MEd Member-at-Large |
STFM Board Actions
The STFM Board of Directors met April 24 and 29 in Chicago and took the following actions:
- Appointed Jesse Crosson, PhD; Robert Ferrer, MD, MPH; Roland Grad, MD, MSc; Richelle Koopman, MD, MS, Stephen Ratcliffe, MD, MSPH, and Sarina Schrager, MD, MS, to 3-year terms on the Family Medicine Editorial Board
- Appointed Arch Mainous III, PhD, as associate editor of Family Medicine, to replace Mike Magill, MD, who stepped down from the position
- Signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the National AHEC Organization to develop collaborations on areas of mutual interest
- Appointed James Gill, MD, MPH, chair of the Research Committee and reappointed Jeff Stearns, MD, as chair of the Education Committee and Jim Tysinger, PhD, as chair of the Program Committee
- Approved a new STFM Group on New Faculty in Family Medicine
- Approved in concept a position paper on obstetrics being developed for the Council of Academic Family Medicine Approved in concept a position paper on obstetrics being developed for the Council of Academic Family Medicine
STFM 2006–2007 Annual Report Now Online
This year’s Annual Report is now available on the STFM Web site at http://www.stfm.org/annualreport/annual07/index.htm. The Annual Report contains reports from the STFM Board, Foundation, standing committees, and all STFM groups. This year’s report also features a “Photo Yearbook” with pictures of conferences and various events throughout the past calendar year. There are also links to and from appropriate areas within the STFM Web site. Be sure to view this report to check out the activities of the Society over the past year.
Annual Spring Conference in Chicago
To the 1,100+ attendees at the STFM Annual Spring Conference April 25–29 in Chicago, thank you for attending. We appreciate your support and participation. We hope you will make plans to submit and join us again next year at the Annual Spring Conference in Baltimore—the online Call for Papers will be available at www.stfm.org in mid June.
Watch the June Messenger for a report from the STFM Program Committee on this year’s successful meeting. In the meantime, enjoy these photo highlights from this year’s annual meeting.
 Janice Benson, MD, (right) Cook County-Loyola-Provident FMRP, Chicago, and Marge Stearns, MPH, take a moment to share their smiles. Dr Benson spent much of her time at this year’s annual meeting promoting STFM’s new mentoring Web site www.futurefamilydocs.org. “Future Family Docs Rocks” buttons were passed out to all attendees to help spread the word about this new resource. |
 Attendees took time to visit with exhibitors during the conference. The sold-out exhibit hall was a flurry of activity during refreshment breaks and the dedicated poster session times. |
 More than 60 individuals took part in the Family Medicine Forum on Health Care Reform that took place as a preconference workshop on Wednesday, April 25. Special thanks to Immediate Past President Caryl Heaton, DO, and Robert Graham, MD, for their leadership and vision that made this important session possible. The forum was supported in part by the AAFP Foundation. |
 Catherine Florio Pipas MD, Dartmouth Medical School, takes a moment to catch up with Larry Bauer, MSW, MEd, about the 2007 STFM Northeast Region Meeting that will be held October 19–21 in Pittsburgh, Pa. Mr Bauer also conducted the Chicago preconference workshop, “How Leaders Turn Dreams Into Reality: Successful Fund-raising in a Changing World.” |
 The Brazilian Society of Family Medicine (SOBRAMFA) was well represented at this year's conference. From left to right: Thais Raquel Pinheiro, MD; Adriana Roncoletta, MD; STFM Past President Edward Shahady, MD; Tatyana Lima Pinto, MD; Pablo González Blasco. MD, PhD; Ariane G Castro, MD. The STFM Annual Spring Conference attracted attendees from 9 countries. |
STFM Award Winners
 The STFM Recognition Award was presented to Joseph Hobbs, MD (right) by Caryl Heaton, DO, Immediate Past President. Dr Hobbs has made important and sustained contributions to family medicine education at the undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education levels. |
 The STFM Excellence in Education Award was presented to Anita Taylor, MEd (center) by Betsy Naumburg, MD, STFM Communications Committee Chair (left) and Caryl Heaton, DO, Immediate Past President. Ms Taylor received this award for her outstanding contributions to family medicine education, especially in the areas of student interest and faculty development. |
 The Smiles for Life: A National Oral Health Curriculum received this year’s STFM Innovative Program Award. The curriculum received this honor because of its collaborative approach to development, broad national impact in addressing a pressing public health need, and model funding network. Accepting the award were steering committee members (from left to right) Russell Maier, MD; James Tysinger, PhD; Wanda Gonsalves, MD; Alan Douglass, MD; Nancy Stevens, MD, MPH; and Steve Wrightson, MD. Not pictured is Hugh Silk, MD. |
 The WWAMI Network of Family Medicine Residencies received this year’s STFM Advocacy Award for their creation of an advocacy network for legislative issues of concern to WWAMI residency programs. This network, made up of residences in five states: Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho, has already experienced success in its legislative endeavors and is actively pursuing additional legislative goals. This network serves as a model for other groups or organizations to develop an advocacy agenda and implement an advocacy strategy. Immediate Past President Caryl Heaton, DO (center) presented this award to Harold Johnston, MD (left), then president of the WWAMI network, and Nancy Stevens, MD (right), director of the Network. |
 William Ventres, MD, MA (right) receives the Best Research Paper Award from Erik Lindbloom, MD, MSPH, Past Research Committee Chair. The paper, “Physicians, Patients, and the Electronic Record: An Ethnographic Analysis,” was published in Annals of Family Medicine. (Ann Fam Med 2006;4:124-31). This award recognizes the best research paper by an STFM member published in a peer-reviewed journal between July 1, 2005 and June 30, 2006. Selection is made by the STFM Research Committee and is based on the quality of the research and its potential impact. Additional authors of the paper include Sarah Kooienga, FNP; Ryan Marlin, MD, MPH; Peggy Nygren, MA: and Valerie Stewart, PhD |
 The Curtis Hames Research Award was presented to Peter Franks, MD, (right) by Erik Lindbloom, MD, MSPH, Research Committee Chair. This award acknowledges and honors individuals whose careers exemplify dedication to research in family medicine. Dr Franks spent more than 20 years at the University of Rochester before moving to University of California, Davis. He spends much of his time now mentoring primary care researchers, conducting his own research, and academic department activities. Dr Franks’ research interests include disparities in health and health care, physician-patient communication, and health status measurement. |
STFM Foundation Awards
This award was also presented posthumously to Ed Ciriacy, MD, STFM Past President and former STFM Foundation Trustee. |
Robert Taylor, MD (right), pictured here with Elizabeth Burns, MD, MA, STFM Foundation President, was presented the F. Marian Bishop Award by the STFM Foundation. This award honors individuals who have significantly enhanced the academic credibility of family medicine by a sustained long-term commitment to family medicine in academic settings. Dr Taylor is professor emeritus of family medicine at Oregon Health & Science University. He is author and editor of 24 medical reference books including Family Medicine: Principles and Practice and The Manual of Family Medicine. International Scholar
Cheong-Lieng Teng, MBBS, MMed, International Medical University, Seremban, Malaysia
New Faculty Scholars
Richard Allen, MD, St. Mark’s Family Medicine Residency, Salt Lake City, Utah; Lia Pierson Bruner, MD; Texas Tech University; Troy Fiesinger, MD, Conroe Family Medicine Residency, Conroe, Tex; Nathan Hitzeman, MD, Sutter Health, Sacramento, Calif; Lisa Maxwell, MD, Christiana Care, Wilmington, Del; Cheryl Seymour, MD, Maine-Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency, Augusta, Me; Lisa Ward, MD, MScPH; University of California, San Francisco
Faculty Enhancement Awards
Melissa Bradner, MD, MHA, Virginia Commonwealth University; Carol Hustedde, PhD, University of Kentucky; Amy Locke, MD, University of Michigan; Jenny Walker, MD, MSW, MPH, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Bishop Fellows
Josh Freeman, MD, University of Kansas; Charles Henley, DO, MPH, University of Oklahoma, Tulsa; Mark Penn, MD, MBA, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine
STFM Needs Your Feedback
Be sure to visit www.stfm.org/evaluation.htm and give us your evaluation feedback for the 2007 conference. Your ratings and comments are important to STFM staff and the STFM Program and Research committees for planning future conferences. We appreciate hearing from you and welcome your ideas and recommendations for the future.
Conference Presenters—Upload Your Handout Materials!
If you presented at the 2007 conference, be sure to upload your handout materials at www.fmdrl.org. To make presenter handout materials more readily available to all conference attendees, as well as other STFM members who were not able to attend the conference, we encourage all lead presenters to upload their presentation materials to the new Family Medicine Digital Resources Library (FMDRL). This STFM service provides peer-reviewed educational materials, works-in-progress, and conference materials for individuals at all levels of family medicine education. Simply select the upload button to place your presentation materials online or the browse button to search for materials, then follow the easy, online instructions.
STFM Groups Can Now Communicate More Easily Using New Collaborative Work Areas Within FMDRL
At this year’s Annual Spring Conference, STFM group chairs were introduced to new features of STFM’s Family Medicine Digital Resources Library—Collaborative Work Areas for STFM Groups.
To allow group members to communicate and share information with one another, STFM has created an online collaborative work area for each group via the FMDRL Web site. Each group work area has three parts: (1) a group discussion mailing list, (2) an area to view group-specific resources, and (3) an area for Web spaces (or wiki) that allows visitors to add, remove, edit, and change content.
To begin using the Collaborative Work Areas for STFM Groups, simply create an account within FMDRL. Once you have created an account, you will be taken to your “My FMDRL” page. As STFM members, any groups you have already joined through STFM will automatically show up in your “My Groups” section. You may also add additional groups through the “My Groups” area. On your “My FMDRL” page, you can edit your profile as well as view your resources that you have uploaded to FMDRL. Get to any group work area by clicking on the name of the group under “My Groups.”
Click here to download an instruction sheet that will help you get started using STFM’s Collaborative Work Areas for Groups with FMDRL.
If you have additional questions about this exciting new way for STFM groups to communicate with each other between meetings, contact Traci Nolte, STFM communications director, at tnolte@stfm.org.
NAPCRG and STFM Abstracts to be Published Electronically
An exciting development is on the horizon prompted by recent discussions between and among members of the STFM Research Committee, STFM Board, NAPCRG Board, and editorial/production staff of Family Medicine. We will soon have a venue to publish our meeting abstracts. Details are still being finalized, but plans are in place to have an electronic compendium of research abstracts from NAPCRG and STFM meetings.
The compendium, which will be an online supplement of Family Medicine, will be indexed in databases such as PubMed as an entire document. This means that individual abstracts will not be indexed, but the supplement itself will be easy to locate online and searchable for authors, titles, and keywords. Presenters will now be able to cite these abstracts and list them in their CVs with the Family Medicine supplement volume number, page number, and Web address. While we all still need to strive for publication of full papers, our abstracts will now be publicly available for the foreseeable future to a worldwide audience, instead of fading away with the conference programs. This will be a major step forward in disseminating and fostering family medicine research, and it may also help some faculty members with their promotion efforts at their home institutions. We appreciate the ongoing efforts of the team at Family Medicine in making this happen.
Family Medicine Department Editor Needed
Family Medicine is seeking an editor for its column “For the Office-based Teacher of Family Medicine.” Manuscripts featured in this department provide information about advising medical students from an office-based teacher’s perspective.
The editor will spend the majority of time reviewing and editing manuscripts and preparing accepted manuscripts for publication. While most manuscripts are unsolicited, the editor will also have opportunity to plan appropriate topics for the column by keeping abreast of current activities in family medicine and soliciting manuscripts from authors on relevant topics in office-based teaching.
The editor will also serve as the editor of the “For the Office-based Teacher of Family Medicine” column in STFM’s The Teaching Physician newsletter and will select published articles from the journal column for inclusion in this newsletter.
The editor must be able to effectively communicate with manuscript authors, as well as the Family Medicine editor and publishing staff. This voluntary editorial position offers no monetary compensation but provides rewarding professional enrichment.
If interested, send a CV and a one-page single-spaced statement explaining (1) your current and past involvement in community education in family medicine, (2) your experience as an author and/or editor, and (3) how you would develop and assure sufficient content for this department. Please send this material to Barry Weiss, MD, editor, Family Medicine, via e-mail at bdweiss@u.arizona.edu. Preference will be given to applications received before August 15, 2007.
EDUCATION COLUMN
ACGME Outcome Project—How Are We Doing?
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) implemented the Outcome Project in 1997. This project is a “long-term initiative by which the ACGME is increasing emphasis on educational outcomes in the accreditation of residency education programs.”1
The Outcome Project significantly impacted residency education. Resident assessment, program evaluation, Residency Review Committee (RRC) accreditation standards, and program requirements language have all been affected. Unfortunately, few studies regarding the implementation of this project have been published. A recent search of the literature revealed very few articles describing rigorous evaluation of assessment methods for the core competencies or descriptions of the implementation of the Outcome Project in residency education. The ACGME Web site includes two helpful resources: a “new” instructional toolbox that “describes and illustrates the principles and practices of competency-based education when specifically applied to teaching and learning activities for the ACGME General Competencies” and resource handbooks for three of the six competencies.2 The ACGME’s own 40-page annual report3 has only one paragraph about the Outcome Project. For such a significant change in residency education, there has been remarkably little research to evaluate the change.
There are exceptions. At the STFM Annual Spring Conference in April, there were at least 17 presentations about the core competencies and evaluation methods used to assess the competencies. Yet, most of these will never be published. Most of these presentations included a description of what the program is doing and how they do it, but rarely is there enough data to publish an evaluation of their methods. Frey and colleagues reported on their curricular innovation but could only evaluate the experience of 12 residents.4
In 2005, we published the results of a national survey of family medicine program directors regarding the ACGME core competencies.5 We found that most programs knew about the competencies and were trying to implement evaluation systems. The major barrier to evaluation was time. In addition, many program directors do not have enough resources to provide the faculty development necessary to implement an entirely new teaching and assessment system, let alone the time and resources to actually evaluate their implementation process. For these reasons, most programs are doing only what is necessary to meet the RRC guidelines and to satisfy their site reviewer.
There is a need for more-rigorous study of core competency curricula. Barriers to this research include busy faculty, lack of expertise to design appropriate evaluations of educational interventions, and inadequate numbers of learners undergoing an intervention to provide meaningful data about the intervention. This is not unique to family medicine. Our colleagues in other specialties are struggling with this as well. This is an opportunity for family medicine residency programs to take the lead. Residency programs need to come together to form Graduate Medical Education Research Networks. Residency programs that may have more research expertise and infrastructure could develop these networks. This would allow programs to share expertise and resources and have more meaningful data for analysis. Without rigorous evaluation of our curricula, we will never know if the Outcome Project accomplishes its goal of improving the education of residents.
References
1. The ACGME Outcome Project: An introduction. www.acgme.org/outcome/project/OPintrorev1_7-05.ppt#256. Accessed April 11, 2007.
2. The ACGME Outcome Project. www.acgme.org/outcome/implement/impHome.asp. Accessed April 11, 2007.
3. ACGME 2005–2006 Annual Report electronic version. www.acgme.org/acWebsite/annRep/an_2005-06AnnRep.pdf. Accessed April 11, 2007.
4. Frey K, et al. The “collaborative care” curriculum: an educational model addressing key ACGME core competencies in primary care residency training. Med Educ 2003;37(9):786-9.
5. Delzell JE Jr, Ringdahl E, Kruse R. Implementation of the ACGME core competencies within family practice residency programs: a national survey. Fam Med 2005;37(8):576-80.
Faculty Development Ideas
This feature of the STFM Messenger is sponsored by the Group on Faculty Development. If you have a submission that will teach us something about embracing the knowledge and skills of our colleagues as educators in 400 words, send it as a Microsoft Word attachment along with your name and contact information to Faculty Development Ideas Feature Editor Deborah Simpson, PhD, at the Medical College of Wisconsin, dsimpson@mcw.edu.
Faculty Development Opportunities and Resources Emerging From Predoctoral Education
The 33rd Annual STFM Predoctoral Education Conference was conducted in Memphis from January 25–28, 2007. As usual, much of the content and process associated with this conference is highly relevant to the larger faculty development needs and efforts within family medicine as well as providing targeted faculty development opportunities for faculty working primarily in predoctoral education.
STFM Predoctoral Directors’ Development Institute: A new initiative, the STFM Predoctoral Directors’ Development Institute (PDDI), was unveiled at the Memphis conference with 26 participants beginning the two-part course that continued with a 1-day session at the STFM Annual Spring Conference in Chicago. The PDDI is a comprehensive educational program focused on the skills needed for success as a predoctoral director. Its format is based on the successful model used by the National Institute for Program Director Development. Developed and implemented by a steering committee of experienced predoctoral directors led by Katie Margo, MD, University of Pennsylvania, background and registration information is available on the STFM Web site at http://www.stfm.org/predocinstitute/index.htm.
STFM Faculty Development Workshop Series: “Teaching One-on-One,” Workshop IV from the STFM Faculty Development Series of Workshops, was offered to Predoctoral Education Conference attendees. Participants explored the traits of effective teachers and their approach to today's learners, the five-step micro-skills model of clinical teaching, the three levels of learner feedback, and how to give both positive and negative feedback as required in the microskills. Information about each of the seven workshops in this series and upcoming dates are available at http://www.stfm.org/facultydevelopment/fadevi.html.
Search Conference Programs: Complementing these STFM-sponsored sessions, there were numerous sessions throughout the 3-day conference that focused primarily on faculty development, either for community preceptors or for full-time medical school and/or residency faculty. More details on the faculty development-related presentations from the Predoctoral Education Conference, as well as the details associated with all STFM meetings, are available by searching the conference programs maintained on the meeting section of the STFM Web site using the search functionality available in PDF documents (the binoculars icon on the PDF toolbar). http://www.stfm.org/meetings.html.
Family Medicine Digital Resources Library (FMDRL): Included among the Predoctoral Education Conference session materials that have been uploaded to FMDRL are two of the plenary presentations as well as several sets of materials specifically related to faculty development. Click here to view all the presentations from the Predoc meeting, especially these two resources: “Academic Detailing: Preceptor Development That Works” and “Providing Comprehensive Faculty Development to Community-based Faculty Using Continuous Quality Improvement.”
AAMC’s MedEdPORTAL: For faculty development resources beyond family medicine, go to MedEdPORTAL (www.aamc.org/mededportal). If you are unaware of this peer-reviewed resource for educational materials, go to www.fmdrl.org and search for “faculty development” (located in upper right hand corner of the initial Web page). Among the 34 resources I just located doing a search on “faculty development,” were two specifically related to describing MedEdPORTAL.
Remember to access STFM’s FMDRL and the AAMC’s MedEdPORTAL in your faculty development scholarly efforts, both at the front end when developing or revising a faculty development program/project and after your program or project is completed when you are looking to share the results of your efforts.
A Future Family Docs Success Story
This month's mentoring success story installment presents a different angle on mentoring. As busy practicing physicians, sometimes we underestimate how our visible enjoyment of our work influences our patients. In this story, Pamela Wible, MD, describes how she has inspired her patients to rethink their entire career plans. In addition to success stories, resources to support you in your ongoing mentoring efforts can be found at www.futurefamilydocs.org. If you have a mentoring story to tell, please send it to me, Teresa Kulie, MD, Future Family Docs stories coordinator, at teresa.kulie@fammed.wisc.edu.
Dream Practice— Mentoring Success Story
In 2005, I opened my "dream practice" as a solo family physician, and I have never been happier. My patients are equally thrilled, and that may be an understatement. My apparent courage to practice in alignment with my ideals has impacted my patients in ways I never would have predicted.
Three patients in the last 20 months (since I opened) disclosed to me their intentions to pursue family medicine. They were so impressed by the way I practice medicine that I inadvertently inspired them to pursue the same career. One patient was headed to naturopathic school when she came in for a new patient physical and is now applying to medical school. Others are planning their undergraduate studies. I've worked in many, many settings as a family physician, and never have I had anyone say "I want to grow up and be just like you" until now. My bliss must be palpable.
Many other patients have quit their uninspiring jobs to pursue their dream jobs after an office visit. Last week, a $50 check as a "tip for special care" fell out of a Christmas card from an uninsured patient. Inside was a heartfelt letter of appreciation for the medical help I provided one night by phone. Here is how the letter closes: "On top of that, your courage to start your own unique medical practice has inspired me to start my own business to, as your is, be a solution instead of a passive contributor to a problem."
I apparently serve as a greater role model than I realize, as do we all. When we joyfully practice our craft, we naturally attract numbers to our ranks! (and I haven't received a tip since I was a waitress in 1988.)
My vision is to inspire physicians and transform health care through the joy of medicine and love of community by modeling a community-designed ideal medical practice that renews the sacred patient-physician relationship.
Call for Award Nominations
If you, your practice, a colleague, or organization have an innovative project or have developed innovative patient education materials for a family medicine practice, then be sure to submit for the 2007 Patient Care Award or H. Winter Griffith Award, to be presented at the 2007 Conference on Practice Improvement: Health Information and Patient Education. The deadline for materials is August 1. The winning submissions will be recognized with a commemorative plaque, cash award, and complimentary conference registration.
For application materials for both awards, go to http://www.stfm.org/awards/awardhub.html. The complete conference brochure will be available mid-July at www.stfm.org.
The 2007 Patient Care Award for Excellence in Patient Education Innovation will recognize a health professional or not-for-profit organization involved in developing patient education strategies for primary care. The award seeks to acknowledge creative, cutting-edge strategies developed to deliver patient education targeted to patients in an office setting. In addition to innovation and creativity, submissions will be judged on the demonstrated capacity to communicate important health concepts to patients and to positively impact patient behavior. Individuals or groups may apply. Submissions from interdisciplinary teams/practices, students, and residents are encouraged. Nominations will also be accepted.
The award winner will receive a commemorative plaque, plus a cash award of $500, and a $300 stipend for travel expenses to the conference. The winner will also receive a complimentary conference registration. The award will be presented during the Conference on Practice Improvement, November 8–11 in Newport Beach, Calif. The winner is expected to be present for the awards ceremony and to prepare a description of their patient education program for the award citation printed in the conference program.
The 2007 H. Winter Griffith Award for Excellence in Practice Improvement Involving Patient Education recognizes excellence in practice improvement that involves patient education produced by an individual or organization. The practice improvement activity should document a measured change in patient knowledge, attitudes, skills, or environment that has either improved or has a high probability of improving measures of patient health behavior or measures of health, such as blood pressure, blood sugar, obesity, or frequency of preventable emergency room visits. The patient education activities can include print, Internet-based education or monitoring, and/or electronic media, including DVDs, CDs, etc.
Awards may be issued for two categories:
1. Individual (residency program, group practice, small rural hospital, etc)
2. Organization (hospital, pharmaceutical company, association, university, etc)
The winning submission(s) will receive a commemorative plaque, a cash award of $500, a $300 stipend for travel to the conference, and a complimentary conference registration. The award(s) will be presented during the Conference on Practice Improvement: Health Information and Patient Education, November 8–11 in Newport Beach, Calif. The winners are expected to be present for the awards ceremony and prepare descriptive/biographical information for the award citation.
Looking for a Present for That Special Grad This Spring?
As graduation approaches, STFM jewelry imakes a wonderful gift for that special graduate, visit www.stfm.org/merchandise/merchnew.htm to browse our selection.
Looking for something else, visit www.stfm.org/bookstore to shop for graduation presents through the STFM/Amazon.com partnership. STFM is an Amazon.com associate. Your purchases help STFM support important programs like the Future of Family Medicine activities and the Annals of Family Medicine. STFM receives a percentage of all purchases (including books, CDs, DVDs, clothing, gift certificates, electronics—anything available on amazon.com). For STFM to get credit, you must go through STFM’s portal to Amazon.com at www.stfm.org/bookstore. Happy shopping!
CONFERENCE NEWS
Open Call for Papers
The 34th Annual Predoctoral Education Conference will be held January 24–27, 2008, in Portland, Ore. The conference theme is “Igniting Students’ Passion for Serving the Underserved.” Submission deadline for this conference is June 11, 2007. For more information or to enter a submission, go to www.stfm.org/stfmpresenter/submission/start.cfm?confid=147.
STFM 2007 Conference Calendar
STFM Entering Resident Academy—May 18-20, Houston and Philadelphia
28th Forum for Behavioral Science in Family Medicine—September 27-30, 2007, Chicago
STFM Northeast Regional Meeting—October 19-21, 2007, Pittsburgh, Pa
NAPCRG Annual Meeting—October 20-23, 2007, Vancouver, British Columbia
2007 Annual Conference on Practice Improvement: Health Information and Patient Education—November 8-11, 2007, Newport Beach, Calif
MEMBER NEWS—
New Chairs
STFM has received news of the following new chair appointments:
Alison Dobbie, MD
University of Texas, Southwestern Medical School
Alfred Tallia, MD, MPH
UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
NEW MEMBERS—
| Arizona | North Carolina |
| Jesse Bracamonte, DO | Cristy Page, MD, MPH |
| Sonia Lentmeier, MD | |
| Elizabeth Moran, MD | Ohio |
| Joseph Dusseau, MD | |
| Arkansas | |
| Christina Mesmer, PhD | Oregon |
| Ann Tseng, MD | |
| California | |
| Heather Ching, MA | Pennsylvania |
| Sean Lucan, MD, MPH | |
| Florida | |
| Timothy Davlantes, MD | South Carolina |
| Michele Stanek, MHS | |
| Illinois | |
| Brian Chicoine, MD | Texas |
| Linda Hengstler | Nicole Lopez, MD |
| Alicia Vazquez, MD | |
| Virginia | |
| Kansas | Andrew Balas, MD, PhD |
| Phyllis Sullivan, DO | |
| Diana Winslow, BSN | Washington |
| Amy Bingell | |
| Michigan | Cheryl Waitkevich, ARNP |
| Hend Azhary, MD | Mary Zozaya-Monohon, ARNP |
| Victor Sunga, MD | |
| Canada | |
| Minnesota | Roland Grad, MD, MSc |
| Kirby Clark, MD | |
| Malaysia | |
| Nebraska | Cheong-Lieng Teng, MBBS, MMed |
| Jenenne Geske, PhD | |
| Saudi Arabia | |
| New Mexico | Ayman Afify, MD |
| Robert Fritch, DO | |
| New York | |
| Muhammad Malik, MBBS | |
| Sarah Miller, MD |
Leverage Your Faculty Time and Skill to Meet Residency Review Committee Required Scholarship
Many of you know about the Family Physicians Inquiries Network (FPIN) or have heard about it. In fact, 22 US family medicine departments and 78 family medicine residency programs are already members. This unique national consortium has developed what appears to be one of the most effective means available for faculty development/scholarship and residency research, and FPIN is open to new members. You can learn more about FPIN by visiting www.fpin.org, by contacting our membership coordinator, or by contacting any of the chairs or residency directors of current members (see Web site for information). In this article, I describe the particular value that FPIN membership may bring to your department or residency program in meeting the new Residency Review Committee (RRC) requirements for scholarship.
FPIN members currently provide the majority of content, peer review, and editing for three publications:
• PEPID PCP—Physicians Electronic Portable Information Database for Primary Care Plus Hospital, Obstetrics, Long-term Care, and Emergency Care: a handheld and Web-based electronic knowledge resource
• Evidence-based Practice (EBP) monthly newsletter
• Clinical Inquiries, published monthly in The Journal of Family Practice and in American Family Physician.
FPIN members have published nearly 400 peer-reviewed, structured reviews in The Journal of Family Practice and American Family Physician, answering the most important questions submitted from the practices of family physicians. Hundreds more publications have appeared in the peer-reviewed EBP newsletter and in PEPID PCP. These clinically oriented scholarly publications represent new accomplishments for most authors, departments, and residency programs. In other words, for members who have developed their capacity to engage fully in FPIN's virtual, Web-based system for facilitating publication, scholarly productivity of members has increased substantially. This has helped them to be prepared to meet the new RRC scholarship requirements, including “formal instruction and practical experience” for residents, the mandatory “undertaking of scholarly projects,” and the “establishing and maintaining [of] an environment of inquiry and scholarship.” Several department chairs have also noted that FPIN-facilitated publication has assisted several faculty on clinical and educational tracks to achieve promotion.
Gary Kelsberg, MD, one of FPIN’s assistant editors, from the Valley Medical Center Family Medicine Residency Program in Renton, Wash, has this to say about his group’s work on the Clinical Inquiries series:
“We offer our residents the choice to coauthor a Clinical Inquiry with an experienced faculty as one of their options to meet their RRC ‘scholarly work’ requirement. It gives residents a practical experience using evidence-based medicine skills to answer a relevant clinical question. It also is one of the few publications that allows residents to be listed as first authors, and the authorship process is well supported by the FPIN editorial team . . . The Clinical Inquiries section of The Journal of Family Practice is one of the most popular within an international readership, so the resident authors' work contributes to the family medicine community, and the residency program benefits from the publicity as well. So far, 30 out of 32 residents have chosen this option rather than presenting a standard Grand Rounds."
FPIN members also offer training workshops for authors, peer reviewers, editors, and educators with varying degrees of skill and experience at conferences such as the STFM Annual Spring Conference and the Program Directors Workshop, as well as at interested departments and residency programs.
FOUNDATION FOCUS—
STFM Foundation Report
There’s a lot of news to report this month!
First, the Trustees met on April 27 in Chicago. In a restructuring of the Foundation governance, we elected three new Trustees, Heidi Chumley, MD; Peter Coggan, MD, MSEd; and William R. Phillips, MD, MPH; and welcomed a new Trustee representing the STFM Board, John Rogers, MD, MPH, MEd, STFM president. Continuing as Trustees are Elizabeth Burns, MD, MA; John Midtling, MD, MS; Joseph Scherger, MD, MPH; and Cynda Johnson, MD, MBA. A new slate of officers was elected, including me as president; Dr Coggan, vice president; Dr Johnson, secretary; and Dr Phillips, treasurer. Roger Sherwood, CAE, continues as executive director of the Foundation.
We received the final 2006 Annual Campaign results. I’m delighted to report that the Foundation raised $95,855, a record amount and a 23% increase over 2005. You are already aware that we have put the additional revenue to good use by increasing the number of New Faculty Scholars from four to seven and increasing the amount of each award from $1,000 to $1,500. Now the Trustees have taken a big step to make sure your contributions are put to work for the benefit of all STFM members. This leads to my next announcement.
The Trustees voted to set aside, beginning in 2007, 50% of all undesignated annual campaign net revenue for a Group Project Fund, to be administered by the STFM Board of Directors. The STFM Board will determine the application process and guidelines by which STFM Groups may submit a request for funding. The fund is intended to enable STFM Groups to produce products, conduct research, or develop programs consistent with the needs of family medicine faculty.
The goal of the 2007 Annual Campaign is $100,000, as it was in 2006, but this year we plan to not only meet but exceed our goal. We achieved exceptional results in 2006 with only 8% of STFM members participating in the campaign. We are counting on many more of you to join the Foundation family this year and make the Group Project Fund a huge success. It’s easy—just go online at www.stfm.org, click on Foundation, then donate. You may also contact Joan Morrill, STFM Foundation chief development officer, with questions, jmorrill@stfm.org.