“We are thankful to our colleagues at Duke who have created a framework and competences in population health. We have followed their lead and re-created what was possible for our community.”
When I heard these words said by a faculty member from Colorado at the spring meeting of The Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) in Orlando I could not help but feel proud of the path we have traveled in the past eight years.
A few months ago when our residency program was ranked number three by U.S. News & World Report, I developed a sense of both pride and of significant responsibility to work my hardest to make sure that the ranking holds true, not just in the perceptions of those surveyed by the organization, but also in the product of our residency.
I went to the STFM meeting with a sense of humility, having been invited by colleagues from around the country to present our views on population health in a Ted-talk format.
Population health has become required training in family medicine residency programs across the nation and a full-day pre-conference workshop was held in Orlando, plus several other smaller seminars.
Donna Tuccero, M.D., assistant program director, and I were fascinated to see how others are using “our” competency framework to design “their” own curriculum, and how they are using A Practical Playbook to understand, learn and create their own paths for teaching, and for primary care and public health integration.
To hear from colleagues that our experience has been transformational for them, was a beautiful accomplishment of the team of Duke University faculty and residents who have worked hard for several years to accomplish these changes that we are now sharing with others.
American Academy of Family Physicians National Conference of Constituency Leaders
Now at the American Academy of Family Physicians National Conference of Constituency Leaders in Kansas City, Mo., marking its 25th anniversary, I am proud to be recognized among the 25 men and women who were conveners for this conference, and more importantly share the honor with Marla Tobin, M.D., a graduate of the Duke Family Medicine Residency Program, and the first convener of the first leadership meeting in 1990, then known as the Conference for Women, Minorities and New Physicians.
Today, I am proud to share that Meshia Wahle (class of 2011) represented the state of South Carolina as a new physician delegate, and that Megan Adamson (also class of 2011) represented New Hampshire, also as a new physician. Megan ran for co-convener of the New Physicians Caucus for 2016 and won elections among a pool of excellent national candidates. Megan shined as she told me of this accomplishment earlier today.
The state of our residency and the leadership product of our curriculum are strong. Much more requires to be done, and much needs to be improved, yet it is wonderful to see that we are in the right path. I proudly thank everyone who helps every day to make these and many other everyday successes possible.
Viviana Martinez-Bianchi is program director of the Duke Family Medicine Residency Program. Email viviana.martinezbianchi@dm.duke.edu with questions.
Editor’s note: A member of the Duke Family Medicine Residency Program leadership team guest blogs every month.