Scholarly Concentration in Family Medicine

Coordinator: Daniel Spogen, M.D.

Selection process: The Family Medicine Clerkship Directors and the Chairs of the Family Medicine Departments will select students for the Scholarly Concentration (SC) in Family Medicine. The selection will be based on desire to practice in the primary care setting.

  1. Time commitment is spread out over the four years of medical training. The time will be spent in the Family Medicine Clinic seeing patients and learning about continuity of care. Approximately 160 hours (4 weeks) will be spent in direct patient care. The remaining 160 hours will be spent teaching to the “Family Medicine Interest Group,” attending and being involved in the congress of delegates for the “National Conference for Students and Residents in Family Medicine,” developing their scholarly project and poster presentation, and attending meetings of the Board of Directors for the Nevada Academy of Family Physicians.
  2. Objectives
    1. Between Years 1 & 2: Students will participate in a summer preceptorship of at least 4 weeks in length with a Family Medicine Clinic. During this time, they will also consult with their mentors to plan, sign the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine Statement of Understanding, and possibly begin their scholarly projects; five days should be devoted to this effort. Students will be assigned a Family Medicine advisor who will remain with them for the duration of medical school as long as student interest is present.
    2. During Years 2 ‐ 4: Students will follow their “assigned patients” in a family care setting. They will work with School of Medicine faculty and/or residents as much as time and scheduling allows.
    3. During Year 4: SC in FM participants will be asked to attend special sessions specifically designed to augment education in primary care and to take the Family Medicine Scholars elective.
    4. Scholarly Project: Students will have two options: a. Work with faculty on original research (IRB approval may be necessary) or b. Complete a “Help Desk Answer,” for publication. (The department of Family Medicine belongs to a group called the Family Practice Inquiries Network or FPIN that is a peer review organization that disperses questions that require evidence‐based literature reviews.) Either project should be able to be presented as a “poster presentation” at a designated period of time. Original research may be submitted for conference presentation and/or publication. The bulk of this time will be spent during the fourth year.
  3. Other activities
    1. Students typically attend the National Conference for Students and Residents in Family Medicine during the summer of their 1st or 4th year of medical school. At this meeting, the student will be expected to attend the congress of delegates where their focus is to be involved in political decision making that affects primary care, i.e. new immunization schedules. This 4‐day meeting that typically occurs at the end of July or the beginning of August will count for approximately 32 hours.
    2. Students will participate and take a leadership role in approximately 5 meetings of the Family Medicine Interest Group. The student will present topics and arrange for speakers.
    3. Participate on the Board of Directors for the Nevada Academy of Family Physicians. This will be helpful since it will bring forward issues that affect the training of students in Family Medicine. But it will also give an understanding of the state political structure. Students in the past have testified in Carson City on issues such as Tobacco cessation. This board meets quarterly in locations across Nevada.
    4. Keep a portfolio of experiences to assure a proper time commitment as well as course content evaluation.
  4. Sign the brief University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine Statement of Understanding for students doing scholarly concentrations.  

     E. Scholarly Concentration in Family Medicine will be awarded if the objectives listed above are completed in a satisfactory manner.

Regularly assigned time in the Practice of Medicine Preceptorships will not count towards hours put towards a Scholarly Concentration in Family Medicine.