A model for a standardized national family medicine graduate survey.
OBJECTIVE
Accreditation requirements mandate that family medicine residency programs perform surveys of graduates. As part of the Preparing the Personal Physician for Practice (P4) Project, we developed a model for a standardized national graduate survey to be used to assess practice characteristics of graduates, including the implementation of features of the Patient-centered Medical Home (PCMH).


METHODS
We conducted a content analysis of residency graduate surveys from the 14 programs involved in the P4 project to identify common elements of importance to residencies. We then designed a new graduate survey as a core measure of the P4 Project. It included practice characteristics, assessment of training, and the status of features of the PCMH.


RESULTS
Categories of variables common to the graduate surveys of the P4 programs included physician and practice characteristics, work load, scope of practice, career satisfaction, and assessment of training. We found variability among programs in the number of procedures and residency content areas listed on any individual program survey, with the number of procedure ranging from 0--21, and the number of content areas ranging from 0-61. The only PCMH feature included on any P4 program survey was the status of an electronic medical record.


CONCLUSIONS
Graduate surveys from individual residency programs vary widely. Using a standardized national survey instrument would provide important information to understand the national practice characteristics and scope of practice in family medicine as well as to track the implementation of PCMH features among residency graduates.
Oregon Health and Science University, Department of Family Medicine, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road, Mail Code: FM, Portland, OR 97239, USA. eiff@ohsu.edu
Patrice
P
Eiff
Roger
R
Garvin
Colleen T
CT
Fogarty
Leigh
L
Lopresti
Richard A
RA
Young
Marguerite R
MR
Duane
E Dawn
ED
Creach
John W
JW
Saultz
Perry
P
Pugno
Patricia A
PA
Carney
D002983:Clinical Competence; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000592:standards*; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D014481:United States; D016526:Workload