This report describes a comparative evaluation of outcomes of a faculty development fellowship program in family medicine at the University of North Carolina. Rates of participation in academically oriented professional behavior are compared between family physicians who participated in the program and peers who did not. Results indicate that participation in the fellowship was associated with higher rates of membership in an academic professional association, speaking to national professional meetings, publishing in professional journals, and having research as a part of one's routine work. Program participation was also associated with higher rankings being given to research and teaching residents in contrast with physicians in a comparison group. However, all family physicians surveyed for this study reported high interest and time commitment to patient care. Results are discussed in terms of the careers of academic family physicians and faculty development programs aimed at promoting such careers.

Cohort Studies↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Characteristics of effective family medicine faculty development programs.

Five federally funded family medicine faculty development programs were site visited from December 1985 to June 1986 to collect from experienced project directors, staff, and faculty their thoughts on training practices and future funding. The sites selected were the Faculty Development Center of Texas in Waco (McLennan County Medical Education and Research Foundation), the National Center for Faculty Development at the University of Miami, and programs at Michigan State University, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Duke University. Since the late 1970s these programs have trained 259 fellows and 3,284 other participants. In total, $7,515,350 in federal dollars were spent. A variety of program formats and strategies were used to recruit faculty, and to prepare them in teaching, research, and other skill areas. Interviews (as well as phone conversations and letters) with key personnel at each site resulted in a summary of 30 critical elements identified for effective faculty development. Additionally, respondents made 11 specific recommendations to the Federal Faculty Development Grant Program that concern funding and future programs.

Curriculum↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Profiles of family practice faculty development fellowship graduates 1978-1985.

This paper describes the academic roles of the 1978 through 1985 graduates of family medicine faculty development fellowship programs sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJ) and the Division of Medicine of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). A total of 329 alumni from 12 of the 59 HHS programs and all five of the RWJ programs were surveyed. Based on a 74% response rate, profiles are drawn of graduates. These profiles are compared to a review of the literature in higher education on fellowships, faculty attrition, faculty activities, tenure, and promotion. Conclusions reached from these comparisons include: (1) The retention rate of fellows in full-time faculty positions equaled or exceeded those of other fellowships found in the literature. (2) The attrition rate of alumni from faculty positions has been less than that noted of faculty in other areas of higher education. (3) On average, fellowship graduates have spent less time in research activities than recommended for productivity. (4) The emphasis on research training, particularly in RWJ fellowships, was appropriate, given increasing expectations for research productivity in tenure and promotion decisions. (5) The national trend toward development of alternatives to traditional tenure tracks matches the patterns found in family medicine fellowship alumni--31% of these alumni were serving on such tracks.

Career Mobility↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Learning contracts in clinical education.

This study explored the outcomes of using learning contracts in a radiologic science program. Telephone surveys of contract learning participants and other radiologic science graduates provided data regarding graduate career satisfaction, lifelong learning habits and attitudes toward learning. Statistical comparison data found that contract learning participants reported higher job satisfaction, participated more in continuing education, demonstrated more self-motivation and independence, felt less competitive and anxious about courses and grades and felt more involved in their clinical courses.

Humans↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Teaching dietary counseling skills to residents: patient and physician outcomes. The CADRE Study Group.

Our objective was to determine whether an educational intervention and prompting intervention for physicians improved dietary counseling of patients with high blood cholesterol and resulted in beneficial changes in patients' diets and cholesterol levels. We instituted a factorial design, multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled trial to test two interventions. We tested the trial at continuity care clinics of internal medicine residents at seven community and university medical centers in the northern and eastern United States. Our participants were 130 internal medicine residents and 254 adult outpatients with blood cholesterol levels of 240-300 mg/dL. Interventions included an educational program for resident physicians designed to improve their skills and confidence in dietary counseling (two one-hour sessions with specially prepared printed materials for use in counseling) and a prompting intervention, which was a fingerstick blood cholesterol determination prior to the patient's clinic visit. Resident physicians' knowledge, attitudes, and self-reported behaviors were assessed prior to the intervention and 10 months later using chart audits and questionnaires. Residents' behaviors were also assessed by exit interviews with patients. Patients' knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and fingerstick blood cholesterol levels were measured at baseline and 10 months later. The educational program increased the percentage of physicians who were confident in providing effective dietary counseling (baseline of 26% to 67%-78%; P < .01). The prompting intervention approximately doubled the frequency of physician counseling (P = .0005) and increased the likelihood that patients would try to change their diets. When both interventions were combined, most outcomes were better, although not statistically significant. Cholesterol levels, however, decreased only marginally and were no different among groups at 10-month follow-up. Despite success in changing physicians' attitudes and behaviors and increasing patients' willingness to change their diets, there was no significant change in patients' cholesterol levels. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH): randomized controlled trial; cholesterol; patient education; behavior therapy; education, medical; diet.

Adult↗