Combining Academy's Residency Conferences Benefits Faculty, Staff
Sometimes, change is good. Every year, the AAFP holds a Residency Program Solutions Conference for Family Medicine Residencies (RPS) and a Workshop for Directors of Family Medicine Residencies (PDW) in Kansas City, Mo. The PDW is designed to address the needs of residency program directors and associate program directors, while the RPS draws a broader audience of program directors, physician faculty, administrators, coordinators, nurses and medical assistants. The program directors' meeting traditionally has been held in June. That timeframe, however, coincides with residency graduation and new resident orientation, which ...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - April 24, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
They're Your Comments; Make Them Count
Since AAFP News Now (Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP)
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - April 19, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Going 'Back to School' Helps Inform, Inspire Teens
I've always respected teachers. My mother is one. It was my mother who encouraged my interest in science, who built my confidence and helped me realize my dream of becoming a doctor. My respect for teachers has never been greater than after spending a day in their shoes or, more specifically, a day in my mother's classroom. A decade after I graduated from high school, I recently went back to Greenwood, Miss., to talk to students at my alma mater about careers in medicine. Doctors Back to School is an AMA program that has been around for more than 10 years. Its goal is to increase the number of minority physicians and elimi...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - April 17, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Fit Physicians Can Lead by Example
Years ago, I attended an event where tennis legend Arthur Ashe spoke about the need for sustainable exercise -- finding something you enjoy that can be done indoors or outdoors and at any age on a regular basis. His words resonated with me. Teaching people -- including my patients and friends -- the tremendous benefits of regular exercise from an early age has always been important to me. I have tried many sports in my time, but when my children were old enough, I signed them up for what I hoped would be a sustainable activity. When I told my kids I was enrolling them in taekwondo lessons, their response was, "Only if you ...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - April 9, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
It's Time to Hold Our Medical Education System Accountable for Producing the Right Workforce
In my office at A.F. Williams Family Medicine Center in Denver, we have tremendous medical students and family medicine residents who are bright and passionate and who understand the value of family medicine and the patient-centered medical home. Nationally, we have more students than ever choosing family medicine as a career. Nearly 3,000 students matched into family medicine residencies last month, filling 96 percent of positions offered. The number of U.S. seniors (1,374) matching into family medicine was the highest in more than a decade. It all sounds good, right? Well, yes and no. (Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP)
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - April 9, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Duke Students Show Keen Interest in Family Medicine
I am always impressed with the passion of medical students and family medicine residents, and my recent trip to Duke University was no exception. Duke's Family Medicine Interest Group (FMIG) invited me to be a speaker at their annual awards meeting in Durham, N.C. This created an opportunity for me to meet with the school's chair of community and family medicine, Lloyd Michener, M.D., (who recently made news for his work on integrating primary care and public health) and to spend some time with family medicine residents. (Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP)
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - April 5, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Primary Care Physician Shortage Requires Bold Action
If we build it, they will come. For the first time in more than 100 years, a new medical school will open this summer in Indiana. Marian University's College of Osteopathic Medicine has a decided focus on primary care. The dean, the associate dean and two of the trustees -- including me -- are family physicians. We have taken a deliberate approach to screening, looking for students who not only have an interest in primary care but who also are interested in staying in the Hoosier State to practice medicine. We hope the new school will produce more than 90 primary care physicians per year, starting in 2017. (Source: As We ...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - April 1, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Physicians, NPs Should Work Together to Improve Primary Care
If one were to skim the latest headlines about scope of practice, you might think you were reading coverage from the sports pages. The media continues to inject words like "fight" and "battle" into the important discussion about independent practice for nurse practitioners. This isn't a turf war. It is an issue of patient safety. Nurse practitioners can provide numerous primary care services that are within their scope of practice -- immunizations, screenings, management of acute and many chronic conditions, etc. -- but physicians provide the needed expertise when a patient's condition requires care beyond that level, when...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - March 29, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Overtime: Finishing the Story on Scope of Practice
Once again, the media is reaching out to get family medicine's perspective on an important health care issue. I recently was interviewed about scope-of-practice issues by The Washington Post. (Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP)
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - March 29, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Lowering U.S. Infant Mortality Rate: FPs May Be the Key
Infant mortality rates (IMRs) can be seen as reflections of a given society's commitment to ensuring access to health care, adequate nutrition, a healthy psychosocial and physical environment, and sufficient income to prevent the adverse consequences of poverty. Sadly, our nation has a lot of work to do in these areas. The United States ranks as the seventh-richest country in the world based on gross domestic product per capita. But, despite the fact that we spend $2.7 trillion a year on health care, the United States does not even crack the top 20 among industrialized nations when it comes to healthy babies. A government ...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - March 27, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Signs of Primary Care Success
When a company or an industry becomes truly successful, one of the first real signs of that success is a new level of criticism aimed its way. Recently, one of our neurosurgeon colleagues wrote a post critical of primary care that appeared on the Neurosurgery Blog. It then was picked up by the Association of American Medical Colleges' blog Wing of Zock. In the blog, Robert Harbaugh, M.D., does a grave disservice to family physicians, medical students, and our country by misrepresenting and attacking primary care medicine. (Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP)
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - February 28, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Will Docs Go Where Evidence Leads?
The number of physicians doing screenings that aren't recommended -- and getting paid for it -- is simply depressing. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends -- based on an evidence report -- that annual screening for cervical cancer is unnecessary. Yet, scores of women who had a Pap smear last year will be getting a reminder from their physician to schedule another one this year. Why? Some physicians continue to do some tests more often than is needed -- and others that are of questionable value -- out of fear. Certain screenings are expected by patients and their families. So we do it, lest we expose ourselves...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - February 19, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Residencies Face Barriers to Teaching PCMH
I believe that the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) is the future of primary care. The model has been proven to provide cost effective and high quality health care, and some payers are beginning to recognize its value. At the University of Nevada School of Medicine, where I am chair of the department of family medicine, we have developed curriculum for students that includes required reading, faculty lectures and shadowing faculty. It's working out well for student education. (Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP)
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - February 18, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Vaccine Fellowship Presents Tremendous Opportunity
The AAFP vaccine science fellowship changed my life. In 2009, I was one of the Academy's first vaccine science fellows. During that year, I spent 10 percent of my time learning about the entire vaccine pipeline: from the basic science to the manufacturing issues to the policy decision-making processes at the state and national level. That year of experience increased my awareness of immunization resources, enhanced my ability to talk to parents and patients about vaccines, and provided me with an opportunity to interact with vaccine decision makers on a national level. The vaccine science fellowship directly led to my nomi...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - February 13, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Times Square 'Jumbotron' Spreads Word About Family Medicine
Times Square: It's the epitome of "bright lights, big city," with more than 450 million people passing through it every year. The AAFP recently jumped at an unexpected opportunity to reach more than 1.5 million of those people each day with a message about family medicine -- a colorful, animated message that flashes on the CBS Spectacular "Jumbotron" in Times Square, one of New York City's most popular destinations. The AAFP always looks for novel and effective ways to spread the word about family medicine, but this opportunity was unique. Another Jumbotron advertiser had pulled out at the last minute, leaving a vacancy th...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - February 12, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
