Abstracts from the Proceedings of the 2012 Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) Conference on Medical Student Education

Abstract

The Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM; http://www.stfm.org) is a community of professionals devoted to teaching family medicine through undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education. This multidisciplinary group of physicians, educators, behavioral scientists, and researchers works to further STFM's mission of improving the health of all people through education, research, patient care, and advocacy. The STFM held its 38th Conference on Medical Student Education in Long Beach, California, from February 2 to 5, 2012. The unifying theme of the conference was meeting the demands of high-quality education in a changing health care delivery environment. Kevin Grumbach, MD, from the University of California–San Francisco opened the conference with a plenary presentation emphasizing the importance of educating leaders and followers for health system improvement. Throughout the conference, participants shared ideas and learned new skills in more than 70 workshops, seminars, and discussions as well as 90 educational research and curriculum evaluation papers. Finally, Jeffrey Brenner, MD, from Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, New Jersey concluded the conference with a plenary session discussing how a citywide coalition can improve the quality, capacity, and accessibility of healthcare for one of America's poorest cities, all while reducing overall health care costs. The STFM Education Committee selected 9 papers from the educational research and curriculum evaluation papers, felt to be of interest to readers of Teaching and Learning in Medicine. One of the papers deals with preclerkship education, three with 3rd- and 4th-year education, two with longitudinal experiences across all years of medical school, and three with assessment.