Family medicine
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When disasters strike, local physicians are at the front lines of the response in their community. Curriculum guidelines have been developed to aid in preparation of family medicine residents to fulfill this role. ⋯ Published evidence of improved educational or patient-oriented outcomes as a result of disaster training in general, or of specific educational modalities, is weak. As disaster preparedness and disaster training continue to be implemented, the authors call for increased outcome-based research in disaster response training.
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As a response to the growing prevalence of chronic disease, models of chronic care have emerged as salient approaches to address dynamic health care changes and to manage the burden of suffering of these diseases. Concurrently, there has been a growing call to address chronic disease management within medical school curricula. This article describes the development and evaluation of a curricular intervention designed to prepare students to integrate patient-centered care with an understanding of the patients' community, provide care within rural settings, and experience clinical education specific to chronic disease management. ⋯ Community-based rotations can play a positive role in developing the competencies needed for future practice. The development of curricular opportunities designed to train future physicians on the value of incorporating models of chronic care within rural and underserved communities should remain at the forefront of medical education.
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This study's purpose was to evaluate the relationship between medical student debt and primary care specialty choice, while examining the potentially confounding effects of family income and race/ethnicity. ⋯ Confounding factors, including income of family of origin, may mask a relationship between debt and specialty choice in observational studies. This study suggests that medical students from middle income families are sensitive to debt when making career choices.
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Discrepancy in care of diabetes between racial and ethnic minority groups and Caucasians is well documented in America. System-based practices have been shown to improve quality of care outcomes. We implemented a disease registry and management system proven successful in a suburban practice network in four community health centers to improve diabetes process outcomes. ⋯ A structured systems-based approach to care of minority and at-risk populations utilizing diabetes registries resulted in significant improvement in clinical outcomes and helped to reduce but not eliminate disparities in diabetes outcome measurements between vulnerable and Caucasian populations.