Collaborating to Achieve the Optimal Family Medicine Workforce

Abstract

When the Family Medicine for America’s Health (FMAHealth) Workforce Education and Development Tactic Team (WEDTT) began its work in December 2014, one of its charges from the FMAHealth Board was to increase family physician production to achieve the diverse primary care workforce the United States needs. The WEDTT created a multilevel interfunctional team to work on this priority initiative that included a focus on student, resident, and early-career physician involvement and leadership development. One major outcome was the adoption of a shared aim, known as 25 x 2030. Through a collaboration of the WEDTT and the eight leading family medicine sponsoring organizations, the 25 x 2030 aim is to increase the percentage of US allopathic and osteopathic medical students choosing family medicine from 12% to 25% by the year 2030. The WEDTT developed a package of change ideas based on its theory of what will drive the achievement of 25 x 2030, which led to specific projects completed by the WEDTT and key collaborators. The WEDTT offered recommendations for the future based on its 3-year effort, including policy efforts to improve the social accountability of US medical schools, strategy centered around younger generations’ desires rather than past experiences, active involvement by students and residents, engagement of early-career physicians as role models, focus on simultaneously building and diversifying the family medicine workforce, and security of the scope future family physicians want to practice. The 25 x 2030 initiative, carried forward by the family medicine organizations, will use collective impact to adopt a truly collaborative approach toward achieving this much needed goal for family medicine.

Entrustable Professional Activities for Community Medicine: Integrating Medical Undergraduate Courses and Primary Health Care

“…Thus, over the last decades, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, USA, the Netherlands, Scotland, India, Indonesia, and Thailand have made efforts to align health and education policies and to include their medical students in primary health care. The strengthening of the family doctor policy is very important, and successful teamwork including medical students has also been reported in Portugal, Brazil, Spain, and Sweden, with good care outcomes (Hunt, Bonham, & Jones, 2011;Soler, Carelli, Lionis, & Yaman, 2007;Dornan, Littlewood, Margolis, Scherpbier, Spencer, & Ypinazar, 2006;Brekke et al, 2013;Neto, Antunes, & Oliveira, 2019;Martin-Moreno, Alonso, Claveria, Gorgoio, & Peiró, 2019;Costa, Pedro, & Magalhães, 2014;González & Almeida, 2010;Kishore, 2016;Raghav, Kumar, & Bhardwaj, 2016;Kelly et al, 2019). CBME's commitment to qualified care outcomes is expressed by its active pedagogical method, integrated contents and community-centered approach.…”

Matching 25% of Medical Students in Family Medicine by 2030: Realistic or Beyond Our Reach?

“…amily medicine (FM) organizations participating in the Family Medicine for America's Health (FMAH) project established a goal that 25% of allopathic and osteopathic students will choose FM first-year residency positions by 2030. 1 FM has committed enormous resources, energy, and thought toward teaching all students the principles of FM, which are an important part of all students' learning. Students experiencing FM with positive role modeling and mentoring might be more likely to choose FM as their specialty.…”

Quality Before Quantity

“…4 One FMAHealth tactic team articulated a shared aim, known as 25 x 2030, to "… increase the percentage of US allopathic and osteopathic medical students choosing family medicine from 12% to 25% by the year 2030." 5 In this issue of Family Medicine, Alan David, MD, questions whether this goal is achievable. 6 Between 2010 and 2020, the number of family medicine residencies increased from 454 to 706, the number of first-year positions offered increased from 2,608 to 4,662, and number of positions filled by all types of applicants increased from 2,384 to 4,313.…”