Family medicine
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Much can be gained by the three primary care disciplines collaborating on efforts to transform residency training toward interprofessional collaborative practice. We describe findings from a study designed to align primary care disciplines toward implementing interprofessional education. ⋯ Uniting the primary care disciplines toward educational and clinical transformation toward interprofessional collaborative practice is challenging to accomplish.
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In 2014, family medicine residency programs began to integrate point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) into training, although very few had an established POCUS curriculum. This study aimed to evaluate the resources, barriers, and scope of POCUS training in family medicine residencies 5 years after its inception. ⋯ Training in POCUS has increased in family medicine residencies over the last 5 years, although practical use of this technology in the clinical setting may be lagging behind. Further research should explore how POCUS can improve outcomes and reduce costs in the primary care setting to better inform training for this technology.
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Schools of medicine in the United States may overstate the placement of their graduates in primary care. The purpose of this project was to determine the magnitude by which primary care output is overestimated by commonly used metrics and identify a more accurate method for predicting actual primary care output. ⋯ A valid, reliable method of predicting primary care output is essential for workforce training and planning. Medical schools, administrators, policy makers, and popular press should adopt this new, more reliable primary care reporting method.
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There has been a growth in the demand for convenient, walk-in access in health care across the United States, resulting in primary care practices seeing a shift in services to urgent care centers (UCCs). In order to incorporate the flexibility of a UCC and improve primary care access and preventive care for our regular patients, the University of North Carolina (UNC) Family Medicine Center (FMC) established a UCC within the practice. This report describes that process and the impact of the new UCC on our academic practice. ⋯ The opening of urgent care at the UNC FMC provided improved access for our patients, increased the number of patients empaneled in our primary care practice, and provided a new revenue stream.