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HEIRS OF FAMILY PRACTICE
by Richard Colgan, M.D.
JOHN MCPHEE, THE son of a horse and buggy era general
practitioner, wrote a wonderful description of the evolution of the old time
general practitioner to today’s residency trained family physician in a book
entitled Heirs of General Practice. Although nationally the number of
students going into Family Medicine has declined from a high in the mid 90s,
Family Medicine is on the minds of many medical students at the
Over the past six months the
MAFP served as a pilot state for an AAFP initiative to match an MAFP member
with an interested medical student. The executive board was understand-ably
disappointed in the small number of stu-dents who
participated, while members of the finance committee wondered if investing in
the state’s Family Medicine Interest Groups (FMIG) made economic sense, given
the small number of students who chose to be a part of the AAFP mentoring
project. As the faculty FMIG advisor, I can attest that you cannot gauge the
interest of these students based on the small number of those who signed up
online for a mentor through the MAFP program. Last year 11 students went into
Family Medicine, with the same number expected to choose Family Medicine again
this year. So who is leading the charge in exposing our medical students to our
specialty? It takes a village, the size of
Given the general decline nationally in interest by medical students in Family Medicine, we need to be smart with our resources and be sure that we are nurturing those who will one day take care of our citizens.
The faculty of the Department of Family Medicine work very hard on a daily basis mentoring up to 14 third-year students who rotate through our department each month. In addition, these teachers of Family Medicine instruct in Gross Anatomy, Introduction to Clinical Medicine, Physical Diagnosis, Bacteriology, as well as lecturing at most of the School of Medicine’s departmental grand rounds, to name just some of our outreach teaching efforts.
I would like to highlight a
few of these champions. Dr. David L. Stewart, associate professor and acting
chairman of the department, has overseen the Herculean task of being sure that
the department’s teachers excel at what we do, while insisting that we be
innovative and look to be better then yesterday. He continues to push the
faculty to be the best they can be in teaching, as well as in our scholarly and
clinical efforts. Dr. Kevin Ferentz, associate
professor and director of clinical operations, is recognized as one of the most
sought after mentors of Family Medicine on campus, based on close to two
decades of teaching tomorrow’s doctors. Dr.Yvette
Rooks, assistant professor and director of the residency program, has been the
face of Family Medicine to close to one thou-sand students in her capacity as
course master for the Family Medicine clerk-ship, the highest rated clerkship
by the students in their third year. In addition, Dr. Adam Dimitrov,
one of the newest faculty members at the Franklin Square Hospital Center
Department of Family Medicine, and Dr. Sallie Rixey,
residency director of this program, have done a terrific job of teaching Family
Medicine to the students who rotate through their department, as well as having
reached out to the students at
Besides the above career teachers, some of the most important teachers of Family Medicine are those community family physicians volunteers who precept students in their office. We are actively recruiting new volunteers. If you would like more information, please contact me.
And there is you, the MAFP member who has contributed financially through a small portion of your dues to sustain the interests of the FMIGs in our state. Following this article, FMIG leader Katye Coniff talks of the many FMIG activities held in just the first half of this academic year. Her enthusiasm is echoed by many of the students I speak with regularly.
In my new capacity as director of undergraduate education, I am responsible for overseeing the Family Medicine exposure which the University of Mary-land’s medical students receive. Given the general decline nationally in interest by medical students in Family Medicine, we need to be smart with our resources and be sure that we are nurturing those who will one day take care of our citizens.
We can take tremendous pride and comfort in knowing that
as family physicians we all have taken part in inspiring the physicians of
tomorrow to choose Family Medicine. Our specialty is in their very capable
hands - we just need more of them. ■
Richard Colgan, M.D. is Director of Undergraduate Education, University of Maryland Department of Family Medicine and Editor In Chief of The Maryland Family Doctor
University
of Maryland Family Medicine Interest Group
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TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF
by Kathryn M. Conniff,
MS II
With
a new faculty advisor, fresh student leadership and
a generous financial commitment from the MAFP Foundation, the Family Medicine
Interest Group (FMIG) has become one of the most active and visible student
groups at the
Our mission is to expose students to as many facets of Family Medicine as possible during the first three years of medical school in order to help them make informed decisions about the specialty that fits them best when it comes time to apply for residency. We have strived to plan events that would not only interest our core membership (which includes more than 100 students spanning all four years) but would also attract students who may not be seriously considering Family Medicine.
In September, we began the
year with the first of our Lunchtime Talk Series, What Family Doctors Look Like Today. Following a film about the ins and outs of
family practice, Dr. Richard Colgan, FMIG’s faculty advisor and the director of undergraduate
education of the Department of Family Medicine, gave a brief overview of the
specialty and answered students’ questions. Later in September, we sponsored
another stimulating talk, Operation Lifeline: A Look Back at Hurricane
Katrina Medical Relief Work. Drs. Colgan and Kisha Davis discussed their roles in setting up six clinics
in Jeffer-son Parrish, a community just west of
During Primary Care Week in
October, we hosted a panel of family physicians who
have chosen to sub-specialize in their respective fields of geriatrics,
adolescent medicine and sports medicine. In addition to Drs. Yvette Rooks
(sports medicine) and Beth Barnett (adolescent medicine) of the Department of
Family Medicine here at
In addition to our Lunchtime Talk Series, we hosted a hugely successful Procedures Night, during which 45 first- and second-year students rotated through hands-on stations practicing skills ranging from suturing, taking appropriate vital signs, evaluating knee pain and performing a pelvic exam and Pap smear. The turnout was so great that we were unable to accommodate all of the students who expressed an interest in attending. Consequently, we will be holding a second Procedures Night this spring to give as many students as possible an opportunity to gain early exposure to procedures that will be invaluable to them during their clinical years.
Medical students also have the option to shadow a family physician through either the MAFP Mentoring Program or FMIG’s own shadowing program. Many students have taken advantage of these opportunities in order to get a glimpse of the broad range of medical issues that family physicians encounter on a daily basis.
This semester, thanks to the
generous financial support of the MAFP Foundation, we have planned a host of
other events. In February we hosted a panel of family doctors practicing in
different set-tings (i.e., urban vs. rural) to highlight the differences among
their respective patient populations. We made a special effort to invite
doctors working in the community to give students insight into the unique joys
and challenges of the private sector. We are especially looking forward to welcoming
Dr. Cheryl Winchell, a private practitioner from
For more information about the
Conniff is secretary of the