title: Teaching practice management during residency.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Practice management is a required component in family practice residency education. A few studies have reported that recently graduated primary care physicians indicated that their practice management training was inadequate. Our study describes the current nature of practice management education in family practice residencies and the perceptions of residency directors about the effectiveness of their program's practice management curriculum.
  
  
  METHODS
  Surveys were mailed to 421 family practice residency directors, who were asked about their program's curriculum approach to teaching practice management, as well as their evaluation of the effectiveness of the curriculum. After two mailings, 213 surveys (51%) were returned.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighteen percent of the respondents provided less than the required 60 hours of practice management curricular time. Residency directors indicated that managed care has had a significant effect on their curriculum. Directors' ratings of the effectiveness of their curriculum were associated with more curricular time and specifically with active learning activities. Although directors reported that managed care had affected how they teach practice management, managed care penetration was not associated with perceived curriculum effectiveness.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Family practice residency program directors described a variety of approaches to teaching practice management. Active learning strategies seem to be important curricular components, although further study is needed about the most-effective methods to prepare physicians for post-residency practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Wayne State University, Detroit, USA. erose@med.wayne.edu
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Rose
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Neale
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Rathur
mesh_terms: D003479:Curriculum / Q000592:standards*; D003625:Data Collection; D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000592:standards*; D008329:Managed Care Programs; D020399:Practice Management; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods; D014481:United States