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.
2008 STFM Annual Spring Conference in Baltimore—“Strengthen Core and Stimulate Progress: Assembling Patient-centered Medical Homes”
More than 900 family medicine educators have already registered for the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine 2008 Annual Spring Conference April 30–May 4 in Baltimore. The exhibit hall has been sold out, and we are pleased that this conference is shaping up to be an annual meeting to be remembered.
Make plans today to join your colleagues for the 41st Annual Spring Conference—where you will be motivated to new levels of achievement as we
strive to "Strengthen Core and Stimulate Progress: Assembling Patient- centered Medical Homes.” The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) is being advanced by physician and patient organizations, community health systems, health care corporations, health insurance companies, and many business groups, who all support federal legislation to make the PCMH part of the law of the land. Our ship is coming in, we just need to be ready!
Hotel Accommodations
The conference hotel is now sold out. Please make your room reservation at the Courtyard Baltimore Downtown/Inner Harbor (two blocks from the conference hotel); call 443-923-4000. You may also go to the hotel Web site at www.marriott.com/bwidt and enter the arrival/departure dates and in the group code box please enter: stfstfa.
The New Member/Attendee Orientation will be held Wednesday, April 30 from 6–7 pm. During this informative session, you will learn about STFM as an organization and also get introduced to the ins and outs of the Annual Spring Conference. You will interact in small groups with seasoned members and other new members.
Click here for complete 2008 STFM Annual Spring Conference information.
Do You Have a Family Medicine Faculty Position That You Need to Fill as Soon as Possible?
Post your position opening at the Annual Spring Conference in Baltimore. If you missed the deadline to advertise your open position in the Positions and Opportunities (P&O) Book that will be distributed and displayed at the upcoming annual meeting, you can still purchase ad space for a special “Positions and Opportunities Display Board” at the conference in Baltimore. If you're interested, check with staff on site at the STFM registration desk to purchase ad space at just $350 per one-page ad for P&O advertisers and $450 per one-page ad for institutions without an ad in the P&O book this year. Posted ads can be in any format, providing they are on one side of 8 1/2 x 11-inch white paper.
Questions? email Jan Cartwright or call her at 800-274-2237, ext. 5408.
THE PATIENT-CENTERED MEDICAL HOME: PERSPECTIVES FROM THE STFM BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Vision-based Fund-raising
There are many cautionary tales of what happens to people and communities without a clear vision of the future. Vision Statements communicate the core purpose and values of the organization as well as its envisioned future. A Vision Statement should balance what you stand for, and you exist with what a organization wants to be. Your vision must be driven by your values, so discovering an organization’s core purpose and values is crucial.
• Your values must meet your organizational goals as well as community goals.
• Your values will guide the actions of all involved.
• Your values reflect the knowledge, philosophy, and actions of all.
• Your values are a key component of strategic planning.
Benefits of Visioning
Visioning:
• Provides continuity and avoids planning in fits and starts
• Identifies direction and purpose
• Alerts stakeholders to needed change
• Promotes interest and commitment
• Promotes laser-like focus
• Encourages openness to unique and creative solutions
• Encourages and builds confidence
• Builds loyalty through involvement
• Results in efficiency and productivity
As has been alluded to in other columns in this series, STFM President John Rogers, MD, MPH, MEd, has challenged members and committees of the Board to advocate for and spread the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model to our practices, faculty, community clinicians, residents, and students. STFM’s Planning and Visioning process has provided a vital guide for this.
STFM’s Core Values:
• Integrity
• Relationship centered
• Openness
• Nurturing
• Excellence
• Learning
STFM’s Core Purpose: Advancing Family Medicine to Improve Health Through a Community of Teachers and Scholars
The meetings that the Society sponsors, the Predoctoral Directors Development Institute, the Entering Resident Academy, the collaboration with AAFP and TAFP for the National Procedures Institute are all examples of activities that are consistent with the STFM Core Values, Core Purpose, and revenue generation.
At the February 2008 ADFM meeting, Hal Williamson, MD, MSPH, told the story of how his department became a partner with an EHR vendor to make their product more supportive of the PCMH. It is likely that there will be further funding opportunities from private industry, government, and foundations to refine and implement the PCMH. STFM’s Core Values and Purpose clearly guide our future direction. Is your organization’s purpose and values sufficiently clear to guide which of these opportunities should be pursued?
Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_planning
http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/index.html
STFM Partners with iInTime to Create Online Cases
For the past couple of years, the STFM Group on Online Cases has been working hard to create computer-based cases to help medical students learn family medicine. Through our recently affirmed partnership with iInTime, we plan to offer a full set of online cases by 2010.
Here are some highlights of our past activities, future plans, and how you can contribute:
The Group on Online Cases was formed to develop collaboratively a bank of high-quality, Web-based cases. We need to fill gaps in the education of our students and ensure that each student achieves at least a basic level of competence relating to core material.
Members need to address the Liaison Committee for Medical Education’s ED-2 requirement, which requires that clerkship directors ensure that all students have comparable experiences in the assessment and care of different types of patients with an appropriate spread of clinical conditions. The standards note, “ . . . if a student does not encounter patients with a particular clinical condition (eg, because it is seasonal), the student should be able to remedy the gap by a simulated experience . . .” So these cases should fill gaps in training.
These cases should also provide students with basic competence in all core areas. The cases will be developed to ensure that every student develops a basic mastery of the goals and objectives of the Family Medicine Curriculum Resources (FMCR) Clerkship Curriculum. The Group on Online Cases will use the FMCR curriculum to guide our decisions on the online case curriculum. Our work overlaps helpfully with the NBME task force (cochaired by Caryl Heaton, DO, and Al Tallia, MD), which is working to create a better Family Medicine Subject Exam.
Finally, these cases should highlight our values and what makes us unique.
The vision of the Group on Online Cases is the collaborative development of high-quality online cases that meet the educational needs of both STFM educators and students. Our goal is to develop a product that:
1. Is high quality
• Meets national standards
• Is peer reviewed and current
2. Serves the needs of STFM educators and medical students
3. Responds to end users
4. Is affordable
5. Remains sustainable
6. Recognizes and rewards participation
• Provides scholarship and academic productivity for writers and reviewers for publishing a case.
2006—Year of Exploration. We explored opportunities and partnership to develop online cases to share. We became a formal STFM Group in August of 2006.
2007—Year of Assessment. We carefully and intensively evaluated our options. Our group sent our assessment to the STFM Board of Directors who later assigned a subcommittee to conduct further analyses. After much deliberation, the Board of Directors approved the partnership with iInTime in November 2007. iInTime is a nonprofit company. Drs Leslie Fall and Norman Berman, founders of the company, developed CLIPP, a set of pediatrics cases that are widely used in the pediatrics community. A letter of Intent was signed between iInTime and STFM in January 2008.
2008—Year of Planning. Our partnership with iInTime was launched at the STFM Predoctoral Education Conference in Portland, Ore, as we begin the dialogue of the next steps toward case development. Two leadership groups, the Advisory Group and the Project Development Group, will be formed. They will be tasked to lead the project forward.
2009—Year of Development. We will be actively developing cases, starting with training workshop for case writers at the Predoctoral Eduction Conference in January 2009. The plan is to have first draft of the cases in April 2009, with a goal of finalizing the cases by fall 2009.
Advisory Group
• Defines project scope and guidelines
• Fosters project acceptance
Enlists stakeholders, eg, curriculum, assessment, technology, leadership, etc.
Selects project leaders
Project Development Group (Four to five project leaders)
• Leads project development effort
• Defines curriculum matrix
• Outlines case content
• Selects and mentor authors
• Revises case content to meet curriculum
Advisory Group Members
The STFM leadership has appointed the following members to the Advisory Group:
Shou Ling Leong, MD, Advisory Group chair, Pennsylvania State University
Stacy Brungardt, CAE, STFM executive director
Alec Chessman, MD, Medical University of South Carolina
Scott Fields, MD, STFM president-elect, Oregon Health and Science University
John Waits, MD, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
How you can be involved:
1. Join the STFM Group on Online Cases.
2. Consider being a project leader. Watch the upcoming announcement for the recruitment for one to two more project leaders.
3. Consider becoming a case writer or case reviewer.
4. Name the cases. We are in the process of choosing a name for our cases. All are invited to vote using SurveyMonkey. Watch for an announcement from Dr Chessman.
We are breaking ground now on this new and exciting set of cases. Instead of working in silos, each teacher working separate from the other, and each discipline working alone, we will be collaborating with STFM colleagues from schools across the country, as well as colleagues from other disciplines. CLIPP Cases-pediatrics, Sample Cases-internal medicine are part of iInTime. We invite you to consider joining us in this exciting project. Come talk to us at the STFM Annual Spring Conference in Baltimore! We would be happy to bring you up to date, answer your questions, listen to your ideas, and share our excitement.
STFM Announces Book Inventory Reduction Sale
Get Great Savings off Select STFM Books When Purchased Before May 4
STFM is looking to eliminate its current book inventory….and that benefits you.
In 2005, STFM signed an agreement to sell its Bookstore offerings through Amazon.com. With our conversion to being an Amazon affiliate, eliminating our book inventory has been anticipated as part of our transition plan.
For a limited time, you can purchase books in our STFM inventory at drastic savings off current sales price. We’re offering our in-stock books for $10 each.
This is an opportunity for you to get a great deal on some valuable texts like….
Intellectual Basis of Family Medicine
Preceptor Education Project: Facilitator’s Guide, Second Edition
Educator’s Portfolio
Pebbles in the Water
And many more…
Some of these texts have limited quantities, so don’t wait! Contact Mary Ruhl with your order today, 800-274-2237, ext. 5404, mruhl@stfm.org. This offer is only good while quantities last. You must either pick up the books at our Annual Spring Conference in Baltimore, or pay the shipping and handling fee to have the books mailed to you.
To see a list of books in our STFM inventory, click here.
Competency-based Curriculum: Quality Improvement
The Competency-based Curriculum Workgroups of the STFM Special Task Force on the Future of Family Medicine (FFM) developed modules that address chronic care, informatics, quality improvement, advanced access, and group visits. In this report, we review the recommendations from the Quality Improvement (QI) subcommittee of this task force.
Definition: QI is a data-based team approach designed to increase the quality of goods and services provided. QI has become central to health care, and all family physicians need to develop competence in incorporating QI into their practices.
Goals: The goal of this curriculum is to provide learners and family physicians of all levels of assistance in the acquisition of knowledge and skills necessary to successfully incorporate the principles and techniques of QI into their professional activities. The subcommittee developed the following goals to address different levels of learners:
(1) Familiarize medical students with the concepts, terminology, and tools of QI.
(2) Train family medicine residents to conduct QI for patient care and safety.
(3) Assist practicing community family physicians in continuous performance improvement as part of their lifelong learning in quality of care and patient safety.
(4) Familiarize all levels of learners with skills to apply QI methods to care of patients and communities from different cultural and language backgrounds.
Major Learning Objectives: The task force developed the following major learning objectives:
(1) M1/M2 students: Explain the key concepts and tools of QI including rationale.
(2) M3/M4 students: Plan a QI project, participate in ongoing improvement work, and identify what QI measures are currently being monitored in their practice site.
(3) PGY-1 residents: Describe the key concepts of QI as part of a team or individually from their own patient panel.
(4) PGY-2/PGY-3 residents: Plan and conduct a practice-based QI project.
(5) Practicing family physicians: Routinely conduct QI projects as part of the maintenance of certification process.
Instructional Methods:
Students
With the limited amount of time available for students in clinical preceptorships or clerkships, students can be involved with the development of patient care registries, chart audits, and/or real-time exercises (eg, Plan/Do/Study/Act (PDSA) cycles). Students must see examples of these activities in use in practice settings; they should be done in conjunction with community preceptors who are including QI in their practices.
Preclinical students can be introduced to the basic concepts and terminology of QI in "Doctoring" or "Introduction to Clinical Medicine (ICM)” courses. QI methodologies should be included in preceptor faculty development sessions sponsored by preclinical courses.
Clerkship students need 2–4 hours per week to work on a QI project. This can be in combination with required community health or service learning projects. Projects are often best done by students in pairs or small groups and in practice settings in which preceptors are actively engaged in the process.
Residents
Formal residency QI projects should span over time, beginning in PGY-2 at the latest and include time for development and assessment outcomes by the end of PGY-3.
Following early core didactic sessions on QI terminology and methodologies, residents can begin to design and develop QI projects from their own practices that incorporate certified EHR methodologies, implementation strategies, and assessment tools.
Practicing Family Physicians (Preceptors)
Practicing family physicians can obtain educational resources at family medicine local and national meetings, preceptor faculty development, on-line interactive modules, and information from the maintenance of certification requirements. They should receive CME credit for the trainings, time spent in implementing programs, and incorporation of teaching activities, eg, with medical students and residents.
Evaluations: Learner and program evaluations will need to be developed for all levels of learners. The evaluations can include pretest and posttest assessments of knowledge, presentation of final project reports, Web-based tools, assessment of patient satisfaction, safety, and medical error rates.
Summary:
The STFM FFM task force will present these recommendations to the ADFM and the Group on Predoctoral Education for review. We invite STFM members to review the complete report on FMDRL and send comments to the FFM task force.
Leenstra JL, Beckman TJ, Reed DA, et al. Validation of a method for assessing resident physicians' quality improvement proposals. J Gen Intern Med 2007;22(9):1330.
FMDRL: Competency-based Curriculum: Quality Improvement
On-line Teaching Materials: http://patientsafetyed.duhs.duke.edu
Washington Needs You
The Family Medicine Congressional Conference (FMCC) is being held May 19–20 in Washington, DC. Come to FMCC to learn how Washington’s policies affect family medicine and gain the skills needed to become a part of the decision-making process. In just 2 days, you will learn how to effectively advocate for family physicians and family medicine educators and go do it. You will meet with your Representative and Senators and their staff, giving you the chance to discuss the issues that are important to you as a family medicine educator. You will also learn many important skills that you can take back to your state and local government to do more for your particular institution. There is no one more qualified than you to speak up for family medicine.
For more information and online registration, go to www.aafp.org/fmcc or call Eric Gascho at 202-986-3325.
CMS to Hold Seminar at STFM’s Annual Spring Conference in Baltimore
Are you concerned about complying with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regulations regarding payment for preceptors in the non-hospital setting? Do you know how to legitimately prevent lost full-time equivalent (FTE) time due to didactic training? Have you been sitting on any other questions about Medicare policy and graduate medical education (GME)? Come have a dialogue with CMS experts in GME. The seminar will be held Friday afternoon, May 2, from 4–5:30 pm.
House and Senate Pass Budget Resolutions
Setting the stage for the allocations to the appropriations committees, both the House and Senate passed budget resolutions that increase the amount of funding available for domestic discretionary spending on health. The House figure would increase the health function by $4.44 billion over FY 2008, and the Senate figure received an increase of $5.27 billion. The health community had recommended an increase of $5.3 billion, so this is very positive. In past years, one of the difficulties in gaining increases in programs like Title VII was that these allotments were too small to allow growth. A cautionary note, however: if Congress does not craft a spending bill that the President signs, no increases will take effect this year. There are many folks on the Hill who are looking to pass a continuing resolution this year and wait for a new President to sign a new appropriations bill into law.
On March 31, the Academic Family Medicine Advocacy Alliance (AFMAA), made up of STFM, AFMRD, ADFM, and NAPCRG submitted testimony to the House Labor/HHS Appropriations Subcommittee on funding for FY09 programs. We urged the Committee to include increased funding for Title VII, Section 747, the Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry Cluster; the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; and the National Institutes of Health.
Recent Uploads to FMDRL Available 
Be sure to check out the recent uploads to STFM’s Family Medicine Digital Resources Library. You can browse the conference handouts that have been uploaded by presenters from both the Predoctoral Education Conference and the Conference on Families and Health. If you were a presenter at these conferences, it’s still not too late to upload your presentation. Simply go to www.fmdrl.org and click on the UPLOAD on the green bar on the home page.
2008 Match Results and Comparison to Recent Trends
The American Academy of Family Physicians recently announced that preliminary information available from the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) indicates that the 2008 national fill rate for family medicine residency positions is 2,404 positions filled out of 2,654 positions offered (90.6%). (Included in this category are family medicine-psychiatry, family medicine-emergency medicine and family medicine-internal medicine.) A total of 33 more family medicine positions (1.3%) were offered in 2008 than in 2007.
Ninety-one more positions (3.9%) were filled in 2008 compared with 2007 (2,404/90.6% versus 2,313/88.2%). Compared with 2007, 65 more positions (5.9%) were filled with US seniors in 2008 (1,172/44.2% versus 1,107/42.2%). This is the first year when more positions in family medicine were filled with US seniors through the NRMP than the previous year since 1997.
Of US seniors participating in the 2008 NRMP, 7.7% matched in family medicine, compared with 7.3% in 2007. Similarly, of US seniors matching, 8.2% matched in family medicine, compared with 7.8% in 2007. 2008 is the first year since 1997 that a larger percentage of students participating and matching through the NRMP matched in family medicine than the previous year.
After 6 consecutive years of increases (1991–1997), and 4 consecutive years (1994–1997) of all-time records set in positions filled in family medicine residency programs, followed by 10 consecutive years of decline, 2008 represents the first year when more positions filled in family medicine with US seniors through the NRMP. 2008 also represents the fifth consecutive year of increase in the percentage of positions that were filled in family medicine residency programs through the NRMP and the highest percentage of positions filled with US seniors since 2002.
Visit the AAFP Web site, www.aafp.org/match, for extensive information, including tables and analysis, on the NRMP results. Watch for the September Family Medicine for a feature article on the Match results.
STFM Award Recognizes Outstanding Resident Teachers
STFM is committed to the development of family medicine educators. One strategy to accomplish this goal is to recognize outstanding teaching efforts by residents in our training programs.
STFM offers an award to recognize teaching contributions by residents—the STFM Resident Teacher Award. Each family medicine residency may give this award annually to the resident who has best demonstrated an interest in and commitment to family medicine education.
• The award should be given to a third-year resident, not necessarily the chief resident or someone who is planning to do a fellowship or begin an academic career.
• The award should recognize a resident who has demonstrated skills and interest in teaching, as defined in the criteria that follow.
• No more than one award may be given per residency program, but it need not be given each year.
• Faculty shall select their program's recipient.
• Give preference to an STFM member when possible.
The following criteria are suggested for selecting the recipient, where applicable:
• Demonstrated interest in teaching/precepting medical students
• Demonstrated interest and excellence in teaching physician assistants, nursing students, pharmacy students, etc
• Participation in a patient education or residency education committee
• Peer teaching
• Consistent quality grand rounds and/or conferences presented
• Valued as teacher by patients and peers
• Evidence of community teaching
• Presentations given at regional or national family medicine meetings
Participating in the awards program is easy. Contact STFM with the name of the resident you have chosen to receive this honor. Staff will forward to you, at no charge, a certificate suitable for framing. You will be responsible for the lettering of the certificate and the presentation in an appropriate forum. If you would like to participate in this program, contact Kay Frank at STFM, 800-274-2237, ext. 5402, kfrank@stfm.org.
This section focuses on “Moments in STFM History,” gleaned from the collections of the Center for the History of Family Medicine. Housed at AAFP headquarters and administered by the AAFP Foundation, the Center serves as the principal resource center for the collection, conservation, exhibition, and study of materials relating to the history of family medicine in the United States. For more information on the Center, or if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for this feature, contact Center staff at 800-274-2237 (ext. 4420 or 4422), fax: 913-906-6095, or chfm@aafp.org.
10 Years Ago
The April 1998 STFM Messenger reported on the updating of one of STFM’s top-selling publications—the Preceptor Education Project (PEP). Along with updates to each module in PEP 1, the Second Edition also added a module on service learning. Both projects were led by codirectors Kent Sheets, PhD, and Betsy Garrett, MD, MSPH.
20 Years Ago
The President’s Column from the March/April 1988 issue of Family Medicine addressed the issue of a primary care specialty. Jonathan Rodnick, MD, noted that there had been relatively little cooperation among family practice, internal medicine, and pediatrics and suggested areas of future collaboration and mutual interest and questioned what STFM’s role should be in the process.
30 Years Ago
The April 1978 Family Medicine Times announced the first recipients of two STFM awards. Lynn Carmichael, MD, founder and first STFM president, received the Certificate of Excellence (now called the Excellence in Education Award). Robert Knouss, MD, chief of the Division of Medicine in the Bureau of Health Manpower, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, received the Recognition Award for his efforts to obtain federal funding for family medicine.
At the 1978 STFM Annual Spring Conference in San Diego, Lynn Carmichael, MD (center) led a small discussion group as part of the Free University program. Dr Carmichael was named the first recipient of the Society’s Certificate of Excellence for his contribution to family medicine education.
40 Years Ago
Following the second organizational meeting held on February 9, 1968, in Chicago, STFM organizers worked on the following precepts of the proposed Society:
• The organization should be interdisciplinary.
• The name of the organization should reflect the purpose (there was a lively and often-heated exchange between those who preferred “Association” and those who favored “Society”).
• The organization should be international.
• A scientific journal on family medicine should be developed.
• Regular meetings should be held.
• Organizational finances (A $5 voluntary contribution was specified as membership dues).
New STFM Group on Teaching Research in Residency
To address the expressed needs of our membership, a new STFM group has formed—the Group on Teaching Research in Residency. The goals of this new group are to enhance the teaching of research skills in family medicine residency programs, encourage research in community-based residency programs, and meet the needs of residency program research directors for a place to share ideas and curricula. Sandy Burge, PhD, and Sally Weaver, PhD, MD, are cochairs of this new group. The first objective of this group is to reach out to anyone involved in residency research and make them aware of this opportunity to join together to personally and collectively advance our abilities to teach research skills.
As a liaison to the STFM Research Committee, the Group on Teaching Research in Residency will seek to build research capacity in residency programs by creating a peer group of residency-based investigators and research teachers, enhancing communication between these individuals, identifying the research needs of residency programs, providing opportunities for developing research skills, designing and sharing tools for teaching about and conducting research, and identifying resources for supporting research projects and research curricula.
If you are interested in joining the Group on Teaching Research in Residency, you may do so by going through the Family Medicine Digital Resources Library (FMDRL) Web site, www.fmdrl.org. If you already have an FMDRL account, log in and the bottom right will show My Groups. Click on the Edit button and chose “Teaching Research in Residency” and then click on the Join Selected Groups icon at the bottom of the page. If you do not have an FMDRL account, select the Create Account button in the green bar on the home page and follow the directions. After you are logged in, follow the directions above for current FMDRL account holders.
We look forward to having you join in advancing the science of family medicine through teaching research in residency. Feel free to contact me with any questions.
2008 STFM Conference on Families and Health
STFM returned to New Orleans February 28–March 2 to celebrate “The Medical Home Team: Collaborating With Families and Communities to Restructure Health Care” at the 28th Annual Conference on Families and Health. The conference offered stimulating presentations covering concepts and topics ranging from restructuring into teams for providing care, to programs to improve the health of the health care team members themselves, to the restructuring of the health care system in post-Katrina Louisiana around primary care and the medical home concept.
The conference schedule was highlighted by a special guest luncheon speaker, Bryan Bertucci, MD, a New Orleans family physician and coroner from the Lower 9th Ward—one of the hardest-hit by Katrina areas in New Orleans. Other local members and guests provided personal “stories of recovery” of practice serving in their communities and were a true inspiration to all attendees.
Another conference highlight was the optional community service project on Friday afternoon, February 29. More than 50 conference attendees and STFM staff participated in a “paint the town” service project at the New Orleans City Park, where the group helped paint and restore a historic building in the park that was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. The project concluded with a brief bus tour of the City Park and neighboring Jefferson Parish, another hurricane-devasted area, still marked by many remnants of the hurricane.
Finally, STFM extends a special heartfelt thank you to Rob Cushman, MD, 2008 conference chair, and Rick Streiffer, MD, 2008 local host for their good work, direction, and assistance in the planning this year's conference.
Photo Hightlights
From left to right: Bryan Bertucci, MD, a family physician at St. Bernard Parish Coroner, visits with Rick Streiffer, MD, department chair at Tulane University, and 2008 Conference Chair Rob Cushman, University of Connecticut. Dr Bertucci shared his professional and personal experiences of the aftermath and the rebirth of New Orleans following the devastating Hurricane Katrina in 2007 during a special luncheon presentation.
From left, Michael Crouch, MD, MPH, Baylor College of Medicine, Susan Thrower, LCSW, Mountain AHEC-Asheville FPR, and Janet Christie-Seely, MD, MSc, University of Ottawa, pose for a farewell group picture after the Annual Orientation Workshop at the Conference on Families and Health. These three members have served as faculty for this workshop for many years. Dr Thrower announced that she will be retiring and was honored for dedication to the conference.
From left to right: Conference Chair Rob Cushman, MD, poses with the Harbor of Health (a TransforMED P-4 Program) team from Memphis: Teresa Cutts, PhD; Steele Ford, MS; Susan Nelson, MD, and Victoria Gorski, MD, incoming chair of the Group on Family in Family Medicine. The team presented the final plenary of the conference, “Bringing the Joy Back Into Family Medicine: A TransforMED Practice's Experience With the New Model of Family Medicine.”
More than 50 STFM colleagues participated in the STFM Community Service Project in New Orleans’ City Park. Under the direction of the City Park’s Volunteer Coordinator, STFM volunteers helped with the restoration of The old Casino Building—a historic and beautiful building that sustained over $500,000 damage in the storm. With many hands, we made quick work of painting walls (interior and exterior), overhangs, railings, etc. and helped to prepare the Casino Building to resume its role as a central resource within the park. Great work, everyone!
2008 STFM Northeast Region Meeting to Be Held in Baltimore
The Northeast Region Meeting will be held October 30–November 2 at the Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore. The conference theme is “The New Deal in Health Care: A Medical Home for All.” For more information, go to www.fmec.net or contact Laurence Bauer, MSW, MEd, or 937-428-7866.
2008 Conference on Practice Improvement
This year's conference will be held December 4–7, in beautiful and historic Savannah, Ga. The theme for this year's conference is “Blueprint for the Medical Home.” The conference is cosponsored by STFM and the AAFP.
The conference received 145 submissions this year, compared to 116 for last year's conference in Newport Beach, Calif. The Steering Committee will meet April 14–15 in Kansas City to determine which submissions are accepted for the conference.
NEW for 2008! 2008 Medical Economics Award for Innovation in Practice Improvement
This annual award, co-sponsored by Medical Economics magazine, will be presented to a health professional or not-for-profit organization involved in developing programs and strategies for innovation in practice improvement by transforming office processes, promoting patient participation, and contributing to an office practice’s overall success. The award seeks to acknowledge creative, cutting-edge strategies developed to effectively redesign an office-based practice and promote patient participation and practice growth.
For complete information and an award application, visit: http://www.stfm.org/awards/pated.html
2008 H. Winter Griffith Award for Excellence in Practice Improvement Involving Patient Education
This award 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 or Internet-based education or monitoring and/or electronic media, including DVDs, CDs, etc.
For complete information and an award application, visit: http://www.stfm.org/awards/pated.html
Open Call for Papers
NAPCRG 2008
You are invited to submit a proposal, present a paper, poster, workshop, or forum at the 2008 NAPCRG Annual Meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The NAPCRG Annual Meeting will be held November 15–19, 2008. Proposals on any topic relating to primary care research are welcome from researchers throughout North America and the world. The submission deadline is April 23, 2008. Questions? Contact NAPCRG at 800-274-2237, ext. 5422 or via e-mail at napcrg@stfm.org.
2009 Predoctoral Education Conference
The 2009 Predoctoral Education Conference call for papers is now open. The conference will be held January 22–25, 2009, in Savannah, Ga. The conference theme is “Celebrating Our Strengths: Masters of Complexity and Continuity.” The submission deadline is June 16, 2008. To submit, CLICK HERE.
STFM 2008 Conference Calendar
Annual Spring Conference—April 30–May 4, 2008, Baltimore
Faculty Development Series Workshop I: Teaching and Learning Skills—April 30, 2008. (in conjunction with the Annual Spring Conference in Baltimore)
Faculty Development Series Workshop VIII: Making the Case for Cultural Proficiency: A Workshop for Medical Educators—April 30, 2008. (in conjunction with the Annual Spring Conference in Baltimore)
Entering Resident Academy—May 8–10, Philadelphia
Family Medicine Congressional Conference—May 19–20, 2008, Washington, DC.
Entering Resident Academy—June 6–8, Chicago
Forum for Behavioral Science in Family Medicine—September 24–28, 2008, Chicago
Faculty Development Series Workshop: Training for the Patient-centered Medical Home: Integraing 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
MEMBER NEWS
New Members
| Arizona Rita Benn Victoria Maizes, MD |
New Hampshire Teri Brehio |
| California Tara Scott |
New Jersey Barbara Roehl, MD Joe Schwenkler, MD John Scott, MD, PhD |
| Colorado Zachary Anderson, MD Suzie Hutchison, MD |
New York Anita Brakman, MS Michele Vaca, MD |
| Florida Catherine Lindsay, MD, MPH Maria Mahmoodi, MD Paul Roberts, MD |
Ohio Sherri Morgan, MD, MPH Sandra Snyder, DO James Werner, PhD |
| Idaho Sandra Hoffmann, MD |
Oklahoma Heidi Malling, MD |
| Indiana Cynthia Ebini, MD Saura Fortin, MD Muneeza Khan, MBBS Ban Kinaia, MBCHB Toyosi Morgan, MD, MBA, MPH Elizabeth Muhiire-Igbanol, MD Alisia Munoz, MD Angela Myers, MD Felipe Romero, MD Arturo Salazar, MD Harmeet Sarao, MD, MPH |
Pennsylvania Kristin Bresnan, MD Laura McCray, MD, MSCE Cathleen McGonigle, DO Yaqin Xia, MD, MHPE |
| Iowa Krista Barnes |
Texas Nitin Budhwar, MD Victoria Do, MD Ramu Gudigantala, MBBS Rahele Lameh, MD David Trotter, MA Kamal Wagle, MD Hong Xiao, MD |
| Kentucky Richard Clouse, MD Lisa Goldstein, MD |
Virginia Samia Ochia, MD |
| Maine Kathryn Brandt, DO | Washington Janelle Guirguis-Blake, MD William Kriegsman, MD |
| Maryland Mary Barton, MD Sharon Feinstein, MD |
West Virginia Sarah Lively, MA |
| Michigan Michael Burry, DO Vijay Singh, MD Adrienne Williams, PhD |
Wisconsin Austin Bacchus, MD Jennifer Evertsen, MS |
| Minnesota Laura Pattison, MD |
Lebanon Hibah Osman, MD |