Family medicine
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Building on research highlighting the success of tribal, rural, and underserved clerkships to increase students' intention to practice family medicine in these areas, we explored the perspectives of prospective precepting physicians and administrators to develop an optimal structure to facilitate recruitment of external preceptors. ⋯ As practice ownership shifts from physician-owned to health system ownership, administrators become the gatekeepers for prospective preceptors. Our findings demonstrate that integrating the compatible interests between physicians and administrators allows for the creation of a synergistic model that facilitates preceptor recruitment.
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Increasing diversity among medical educators is a vital step toward diversifying the physician workforce. This study examined how gender, race, and other attributes affect family medicine department chairs' experiences with sponsoring, mentoring, and coaching (SMC). We identified strategies at multiple levels to enhance SMC for faculty from underrepresented groups (URGs). ⋯ Understanding the experiences of URG faculty is paramount to improving the environment in academic medicine-paving the way to enhancing diversity in the health care sector. Institutions and individuals need to develop multilevel strategies for empowerment and support to actively make diverse faculty feel at home.
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Reports on the effects of changing the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) Step 1 examination scoring to pass/fail are evolving in the medical literature. This Council of Academic Family Medicine Educational Research Alliance family medicine clerkship directors' study seeks to describe family medicine clerkship directors' perceptions on the impact of incorporation of Step 1 pass/fail score reporting on students' family medicine clerkship performance. ⋯ This study represents an early description of family medicine clerkship directors' perceived observations of the impact of Step 1 scoring changes on student performance. Continued investigation of the effects of USMLE Step 1 pass/fail scoring should occur.
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Despite increasing numbers of faculty identifying as underrepresented in medicine (URiM) over the last few decades, URiM representation in academic medicine leadership has changed little. The Society of Teachers of Family Medicine funded the Leadership Through Scholarship Fellowship (LTSF) to target this population and provide a framework for scholarly success. Based on responses to open-ended questions from a leadership survey, we characterize how early-career URiM family medicine faculty view leadership and assess attitudes and perceptions of leadership development. ⋯ These themes represent lessons learned from URiM faculty participating in a single faculty development fellowship. Collaborative scholarship, both as an early-career faculty need and a leadership responsibility, is a new contribution to the existing literature. While identified by URiM family medicine faculty, these themes are likely familiar to early-career faculty across all medical specialties and faculty identities. These lessons can guide senior academic leaders in preparing early-career faculty for leadership in academic medicine.
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As application to residency programs becomes increasingly competitive, educational leaders face growing student concern about imprecise clinical assessments and clerkship grades. ⋯ Clerkship grades are widely used by residency program directors to classify and differentiate student applicants. We identified a significant concern from FMCDs that clinical evaluation ratings can vary greatly. Given the high stakes and perceived inaccuracy of clerkship grading, we recommend continued investigation into the appropriate weighing and usage of clinical evaluations. Continued exploration is recommended to develop grading paradigms centered on criterion-based assessment.