Program Specifics

Didactics	Hospital Admissions
Evaluations	Moonlighting
Advising System	Procedure Documentation
Research

Didactics

Conferences are scheduled Tuesday afternoons, including a monthly Journal club, a morbidity and mortality conference, geriatrics and obstetrics lectures/group discussions, and weekly behavioral science discussions. Core content review for board exam preparation is also done once a month with Dr. Deckert.

Balint group meets quarterly for Family Medicine PGY-1s. This group allows residents to discuss areas of mutual concern in a supportive atmosphere with the faculty psychologist.

Morbidity & mortality conference Second and third year residents are required to give one M&M Conference each year. The assigned resident presents a case from his or her practice and should discuss the presentation with their advisor in advance.

Journal Club The faculty physicians teach EBM principles and discuss their validity, impact, and usefulness in the practice of family medicine.

Behavioral science/psychiatry conference First year residents are assigned to give one conference presentation during the Behavioral Science/ Psychiatry month to the behavioral science staff.

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Evaluations

Competency guidelines: The curriculum is based on a set of core competencies that are essential for becoming a family physician (defined by the ACGME in six areas). The residency faculty have developed statements of competencies as curricular guidelines for each required rotation, intended to focus residents' learning energies on those skills and clinical areas that are most relevant to the family physician. These guidelines are updated routinely by the faculty and residents to ensure that curriculum reflects the realities of Family Medicine in the 21st Century.

Evaluation system: Residents are asked to routinely complete evaluation forms for each rotation, commenting on the educational content of the month and on faculty supervision. This feedback is discussed with the resident's advisor during their meetings, along with evaluations of the resident's performance provided by supervising faculty for each rotation.. Our philosophy regarding evaluation is one of fostering continual improvement and life-long learning by helping our residents learn the skills needed for self-assessment of strengths and areas of improvement. Our evaluation system reflects this by allowing the resident to track his or her individual development as a family physician through a combination of self-assessment and faculty assessment of the resident's mastery of the essential competencies. Twice a year all residents are reviewed by the entire faculty.

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Advising System

Each resident will be assigned a family physician faculty member as a professional advisor, with whom they will meet once each quarter. The role of the advisor is multifaceted and includes:

• Reviewing the competencies/learning goals and expectations for the required rotations and your learning goals for electives, as described above
• Assisting with and reviewing self-assessment of strengths and areas for improvement, guiding elective choices and career planning
• Gathering, collating and analyzing data from the various parts of the evaluation system and provide meaningful feedback to you
• Providing advice, support, collaborative problem solving when necessary and balanced feedback to you during regular meetings
• Serving as your advocate within the department.

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Research

There is a growing tradition of strong scholarly activity at Mercy Family Medicine. Research into any valid clinical or epidemiological subject is supported, but not required.

Hospital Admissions

The Family Medicine resident assumes responsibility for hospitalized patients in two different instances. The first is during PGY1 inpatient rotations, and the second is during the hospitalization of the FPC continuity patients while rotating on the FMIP service. He or she formulates the diagnostic and therapeutic plans in consultation with the attending physician and inpatient team. During the second and third year of residency the resident also actively participates in the supervision and teaching of students as part of the Family Medicine inpatient service.

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Moonlighting Policy

Second and third year residents in good standing with a permanent Missouri license are eligible to moonlight. All residents must notify the Program Director of where they are moonlighting. Malpractice coverage is provided by St. John's only for residents moonlighting at St. John's Mercy Medical Center. If a resident desires to moonlight at another institution, a written letter confirming malpractice coverage (occurrence type) by that institution is required. This must be reviewed and approved by our legal counsel. Each resident applying for "moonlighting" privileges should have a letter of support from the residency director. Recognizing that out-of-hospital work can provide excellent educational experience, as well as ease the financial burdens of residents with large educational debts, residents may "moonlight" under the following circumstances:

1. The resident is not under academic probation.
2. These activities do not interfere with regular duties of the resident, including call and continuity practice.
3. The resident has completed the internship year in Family Medicine.
4. Has a permanent Missouri license & DEA.
5. The resident has occurrence-type malpractice coverage.

Moonlighting hours are counted towards a resident's limit of 80 hours per week per ACGME guidelines. The residency director has the authority to revoke "moonlighting" privileges if in his/her judgment the resident is allowing these activities to interfere with the goals of the residency program.

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Procedure Documentation

Documentation of the types of patients cared for during residency and any procedural experience is important for obtaining hospital privileges after residency. Procedures done on inpatients should be documented, including patient name, age, and supervising resident or faculty. Common procedures requiring documentation, and for which training is provided at St. John's, include:

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