Family medicine
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Climate change is a major threat to the health of people worldwide. The health care system deals with the immediate health-related effects of climate change and, at the same time, is a major emitter of greenhouse gas. This study aimed to investigate (a) the awareness and perception of climate change among family medicine residency program directors, and (b) the state of climate change education in family medicine residency programs. ⋯ While climate change is an emerging topic affecting health and the provision of health care worldwide, our study suggests that many family medicine residency programs do not teach about it. Family medicine trainees may not always receive sufficient education about the risks posed to their patients by climate change, which could lead to them having limited knowledge and skills when discussing this topic with their patients in the future.
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Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) efforts have accelerated over the past several years, without a traditional guidebook that other missions often have. To evaluate progress over time, departments of family medicine are seeking ways to measure their current EDI state. Across the specialty, unity regarding which EDI metrics are meaningful is absent, and discordance even exists about what should be measured. ⋯ Departments can review this framework and consider which metrics are applicable or develop their own metrics to align with their strategic priorities. In the future, collective departments could compare notes and measure aggregate progress together. Evaluating progress is a step in the journey toward the goal of ensuring that departments are operating from inclusive and just academic systems.
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Although signals have been used in the residency application process by other specialties, family medicine residency directors have not previously participated. With applicant signal information available for the first time in the 2023-2024 application cycle, the current study describes family medicine residency program directors' intended use of signals and provides benchmarking descriptive data that may help inform best practices and future studies. ⋯ Signals may play an important role in the residency application process for family medicine in 2023-2024. While signals are not anticipated to decrease application workload or stress, a signal may be an important mechanism for a specific applicant to distinguish themselves with a program.