University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Innovation and Leadership for the Future of Family Medicine
The key to the Future of Family Medicine is innovation in clinical
care, education and research. As one of the top departments of Family Medicine
in the country, the University of North Carolina has been a center of innovation
for a generation. Residents have been involved at all stages of this effort.
Clinical Care
– We have pioneered several innovations that we feel improve patient care and
are helping to set future directions for our practice and for what Family Medicine
will need to do to provide quality health care in the coming years.
- Family Physicians as Hospitalists – Our Family
Practice based hospitalist program has achieved national benchmark records
of efficiency, cost and quality of care. We have demonstrated that family
physician’s perform as well or better than traditional hospitalists.
- Maternal & Child Health – Our high touch low-tech,
combination of midwifery and evidence-based medicine has been very successful
in our local market place. The focus on mothers and babies together is unique
and attractive to our patients.
- Group Visits – Group visits for diabetes and prenatal
care are a key part of our clinical programs. They have been very successful:
there is substantial patient demand for them and they work from a fiscal point
of view.
- E-mail Correspondence with Patients – An important
feature of the new Model of Practice is to develop new ways of interacting
with patients. We have piloted UNC Health Care System’s email connection with
patients for purposes of setting up appointments, changing medications, getting
refills as well as communicating with doctors.
- Integrative Medicine – The Family Medicine Center
features on site acupuncture along with substantial expertise with other forms
of alternative medicine. Usually, alternative medicine is provided to patients
separately, at the FMC, we have developed models that integrate alternative
medicine into ongoing primary care.
Education – Our department
has long been one of the national centers of innovation in Family Medicine education
at the medical student, resident and fellow levels. In residency training we
have piloted the following innovations:
- Evidence-Based Medicine – For more than fifteen
years, the University of North Carolina has been a national leader in translating
evidence-based medicine into residency curricula. Through Critical Appraisal
Rounds, Preventive Services, Quality projects and our Hospitalist and MCA
program, we have integrated evidence-based medicine throughout the residency.
Our clinically oriented approach has spread through residencies and departments
across the country.
- Maternal & Child Health – We developed an innovative
curriculum which embodies a unique Family Medicine approach to birthing--high
touch, low tech—and at the same time extends the focus to the care of children,
including management of breast feeding, same day care for children, developmental
tracking in the health department and teen clinics. Residents participate
fully in all phases of the model, from group prenatal visits, to labor and
delivery to discussions of contraception with teens.
- Open Access/CQI - We have been one of the first
residencies nationally to push open access for our residents. This has increased
our continuity rate and improved patient satisfaction substantially. In our
new Population Based Management curriculum, residents play a leadership role
in management of schedules, open access and disease management. We believe
that this is the wave of the future for the practice management curricula
in Family Medicine.
Research– UNC Family
Medicine researchers lead multidisciplinary teams are national leaders in rural
health and long term care. New faculty have won NIH-funded research in spirituality,
the efficacy of acupuncture, human sexuality, osteoporosis and exercise interventions
in primary care. Also, as a founding member of the Family Practice Inquiries
Network, the UNC Department of Family Medicine contributes clinically focused
evidence based medicine to practicing doctors. We welcome resident input at
any level in these projects
National Leadership – The University
of North Carolina is also proud of its contribution to leadership in Family
Medicine nationally. We are recognized in the top five of Departments of Family
Medicine; approximately a quarter of the Chairs of Family Medicine nationally
are alumni of one of our programs. In addition, members of our department have
been Presidents or on the Board of Directors of all of the major organizations
in Family Medicine over the last five years. We seek housestaff who wish to
make a difference in their own communities, in the discipline or in academics.