Family medicine curriculum: Improving the quality of academic sessions

Article Figures & Data

Table 1

Overview of academic activities

2-year rotating curriculum (Years A and B)

Second Wednesday evening of every month

Large group learning (approximately 90 first- and second- year family medicine residents) held centrally at the University of Alberta
3 1-hour didactic sessions
1 specialist and at least 1 family physician (ideally)
Quarterly evidence-based literature review by family physician

Fourth Thursday morning of every month

Small group learning (approximately 15 to 20 first- and second-year family medicine residents) held at each of 5 teaching sites throughout Edmonton and supervised by an on-site faculty member
1-hour educational module10 that is relevant to the monthly topic; a first-year resident leads the activity
1-hour critical appraisal of a journal article that is related to the topic of the month; a second-year resident leads the activity and selects and distributes the article
1-hour short-answer management problems from questions developed and maintained by faculty (some questions modeled after the self-learning modules of the College of Family Physicians of Canada)

Table 2

Academic half-day rotating 2-year schedule

MONTH	TOPIC FOR YEAR A	TOPIC FOR YEAR B
July^*	Genitourinary system	Skin
August	Mental health	Neurology
September	Low-risk birthing	Endocrine system
October^*	Child health	Hematology and oncology
November	Care of the elderly	Musculoskeletal system
December	Addictions and toxicology	Cross-cultural issues
January^*	Digestive system	Women’s health
February	Heart	Kidney
March	Lungs	Head and neck
April^*	Preventive health	Palliative care
May	Urgent and emergency care 1	Emergency care 2 and infections
June	Research 1	Research 2

Table 3

example of academic half-day activities associated with a month’s topic

JULY, YEAR A: GENITOURINARY SYSTEM
	TOPIC	SPECIALIST
Wednesday AHD lectures
•1:00–2:00	New issues in sexually transmitted disease management	Dr Specialist
•2:00–3:00	Benign prostatic hypertrophy	Dr Family Physician
•3:00–4:00	Incontinence overview and pessary workshop	Incontinence clinic Registered Nurse
Thursday AHD small group learning
•9:00–10:00	Educational modules10—renal stones	N/A
•10:00–11:00	Journal club—pitfalls of the prostate-specific antigen test
•11:00–12:00	Practising Short Answer Management Problems— testicular torsion, benign prostatic hypertrophy, sexual dysfunction, sexually transmitted diseases, and urinary tract infection in a child