Family medicine
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Survey response rates of 70% or higher are needed if findings are to be considered generalizable. Unfortunately, survey studies of health professionals have declining response rates. We have conducted survey research with residents and residency directors for over 13 years. Here we describe the strategies we used to obtain optimal response rates in residency training research collaboratives. ⋯ High response rates are achievable, though they require an investment in time, resources, and ingenuity in connecting with study populations. Investigators conducting survey research must consider administrative efforts needed to achieve target response rates, including planning for funds accordingly.
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Teaching clinics aim to provide patients with care that is comprehensive, high quality, and timely. Since resident presence at the clinic is irregular, timely access to care and continuity remain challenging. The two main objectives of our study were to compare the experience of timely access by patients of family residents vs staff and to determine if there was a difference between resident and staff patients in reported appropriateness and patient-centeredness of the visit. ⋯ Although patients generally have a positive perception of access to care and adequacy of the consultations meet their needs, staff also face the challenge of providing better access to their patients. Finally, we found the patients' perceived visit-based patient centeredness was higher for visits of second-year than first-year resident physicians, supporting the impact of training efforts toward patient-centered best practices.
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Academic promotion is an important goal in an academic physician's career trajectory. Understanding the factors that influence success in academic promotion is important in providing appropriate guidance and resources. ⋯ Attendance at professional meetings and the presence of a departmental promotions committee may be helpful factors in achieving academic promotion. An assigned mentor was not found to be a helpful factor.