Family medicine
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The Medicare Primary Care Exception (PCE) permits indirect supervision of residents performing lower-complexity visits in primary care settings. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Medicare expanded the PCE to all patient visits regardless of complexity. This study investigates how PCE expansion changed resident billing practices at a family medicine residency during calendar year 2020. We hypothesized that residents not constrained by the PCE would bill more high-level visits. ⋯ With the PCE expansion, senior family medicine resident physicians at UWFMR used higher-complexity billing codes at a rate approximating that of attending physicians. The findings of this study have implications regarding the financial well-being and sustainability of primary care residency training and raise a relevant policy question about whether the PCE expansion should persist. More research is needed to determine whether these findings were replicated in other primary care residency practices, the impact on resident education, and the impact on patient outcomes.
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The aim of this study was to examine experiences of New Jersey family medicine residents and preceptors with the etonogestrel subdermal contraceptive implant and to explore barriers to and facilitators of training. ⋯ Family medicine residencies provide unique opportunities to impact provision of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC). We identified potential interventions, including formal implant training sessions, dedicated procedure office sessions, stocking of devices in the office, and staff focused on reproductive health that can aid in scheduling, obtaining devices, and setup.
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Implementing a structured activity to encourage exercise in children may be a strategy with benefits. We evaluated pulmonary function in elementary school children participating in a school-based exercise program called The Daily Mile. ⋯ The Daily Mile has benefits for pulmonary function in children. Although family physicians should continue to encourage their patients to have a healthy lifestyle, a more effective approach may be to encourage schools to adopt a program that teachers oversee and administer in a structured way.
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Scholarly activity is a core requirement set by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). A previous study documented a significant 302% increase in scholarly activity at Eglin Family Medicine Residency after implementation of a standard set of interventions from 2016 to 2019. Few researchers have explained why such interventions to increase scholarly activity are effective. Prior work has suggested that many different interventions are helpful, but why? Our qualitative study took a multilevel approach to explain accompanying cultural factors and to determine how specific interventions led to the observed increases in quality and quantity of resident scholarship. ⋯ This explanatory inquiry developed into a multilevel model which suggests that the synergy of promoting elements drives increased scholarly productivity. Other residencies should consider fostering these combined elements instead of emphasizing only isolated individual elements to increase resident scholarship productivity.
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Competency based medical education (CBME) aims to produce graduates prepared for independent practice. Many equate the outcome of "preparedness for practice" with acquisition of competence. As educators evaluate the outcomes of CBME, being clear on the concept of preparedness for practice will clarify the results that are measured and assessed. This study examined how preparedness for practice is conceptualized in the literature and by family physicians (FPs) in Canada. ⋯ Preparedness for practice involves an interplay of dynamic and complex constructs from competence, self-confidence, capability, and adaptability. Preparedness is more than possessing several competencies; it calls for integrating and applying competencies in complex and changing environments. This study aimed to start a discussion on what end point is desirable for residency education and proposed that the end point needs to move beyond competencies.