To provide family medicine residencies with sufficient family physician and other residency faculty.Strategic Directions:

4.1 Encourage and promote the teacher role to residents and graduates to consider family medicine education as a career

a. Teach residents how to teach.

Who:
STFM, family medicine residency programs, AAFP.

Strategy:

• Provide workshops at residency programs.
• Provide workshops at NCFPR.
• Local faculty development to teach faculty to teach residents to teach.
• Develop teaching/learning modules.
• Cultivate resident roles as teachers.
• Socialize residents into the role of a faculty member.

Who:
Family practice residency programs, STFM, AAFP.

Strategy:

• Nurture faculty development.
• Provide faculty job descriptions to residents.
• Put residents in faculty roles for a time.
• Procure money for faculty development.
• Workshops at NCFPR.

c. Encourage residents to include teaching as part of their professional role as family physicians.

Who:
Family practice residency programs, AAFP, AAFP constituent chapters, STFM.

Strategy:

• Workshops at NCFPR.
• Role model practicing physicians to residencies, and residents to their practices.

d. Recruit graduates to teaching roles in residencies.

Who:
Family practice residency programs.

Strategy:

• Invite graduates to lecture, precept, attend, lead groups and participate in social activities.
• Faculty development for graduates.
• Graduates to teach practice management.
• Residents to graduates' practices.
• Pay graduates to teach.
• AAFP/F Resident Repayment Program

4.2 Approach the community as a source of educational resources and models:

a. Educate the practicing family physician community as to the need for physician educators.

Who:
AAFP, AAFP chapters, family medicine residency programs.

Strategy:

• Publications.
• AAFP Assembly.
• AAFP Leadership Conference.
• State Officers' Conference.
• State chapter meetings.
• Preceptor Education Project.

b. Advocate for the use of teachers and educational resources outside family medicine (e.g., nutrition, pharmacy, law, clergy, social work, practice management).

Who:
STFM, ACGME, AAFP, AFPRD.

Strategy:

• National and regional meetings.
• RRC-FP "Special Requirements."

c. Explore the community for potential educational experiences and faculty resources (e.g., public health, community mental health, AHECs, colleges, social service agencies).

Who:
Family practice residency programs.

Strategy:

• Local and regional community resources.

4.3 Enhance the financial and other incentives for family medicine teaching:

Make teaching a financially attractive career.

Who:
AAFP, ADFM, AFPRD, Washington Offices of AAFP and OAFM.

Strategy:

• State and federal legislation.
• Promotion and tenure policies.
• Salary surveys.
• Loan repayment programs.
• Liaison to AHME - educational programs.

b. Seek ways to identify and meet faculty needs for non-financial incentives and recognition.

Who:
ADFM, AFPRD, STFM, AAFP, RAP.

Strategy:

• Faculty appointments.
• Workshops at RAP/PD, etc. for program directors.
• Survey of faculty rewards/costs.
• Promotion and tenure policies.
• Sabbaticals in community programs.

4.4 Advocate for and support adequate numbers of faculty:

a. Seek adequate numbers of residency faculty to reduce the risk of overburdening faculty.

Who:
AAFP, STFM, AFPRD.

Strategy:

• STFM faculty development sessions.
• AAFP Annual Assembly courses.
• AAFP/STFM centralized faculty recruitment clearinghouse.
• Include faculty positions in AAFP physician placement service.
• Consider development of an interorganizational group on faculty recruitment, development, retention, and rewards.

b. Support the need for a 1:6 ratio of full-time family physician faculty to residents, in addition to the Program Director.

c. Support the need for a 1:4 ratio of FTE family physician faculty in direct teaching roles to residents.

d. Facilitate creativity in defining full-time faculty roles with varying amounts of clinical practice.

Who:
ACGME, AAFP, AFPRD, RAP, STFM.

Strategy:

• RRC-FP "Special Requirements."
• Workshops at educational meetings.

4.5 Nurture the development of the National Institute for Program Director Development.

Who:
ABFP, AFPRD, RAP, AAFP, STFM.

Strategy:

• Financial subsidy.
• Educational programming.
• Evaluation.