Community-Based Teaching : A Guide to Developing and Implementing Education Programs for Medical Students and Residents in the Practitioner's Office

From The Critics

Reviewer: Rick Kellerman, MD(University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita)
Description: This is a guide to developing practical education programs for medical students and residents in primary care physician community-based practices.
Purpose: As medical care shifts from an inpatient to an outpatient focus, successful innovation in medical student and resident education in community-based settings is necessary. Community-based teaching explains how to plan teaching programs with volunteer faculty in office and community settings.
Audience: The book will be most useful to course directors who have been newly charged with developing community-based educational programs. For those already administering successful programs, it is a good review and will stimulate new ideas. Community-based volunteer faculty with interests in the process of medical education will also enjoy the book.
Features: The book explores how to recruit, train, and maintain a quality cadre of volunteer faculty; the development, evaluation, and enhancement of curriculum and teaching methodologies in a community-based setting; financial implications to the medical school and the practitioner; and expectations and needs of the student, resident, and volunteer faculty. Four model programs that have successfully integrated community-based training into their academic teaching programs are explained. Useful tools are an appendix of 25 "Frequently Asked Questions" pertinent to community-based teaching and a first-person "One Day's Experience" written by a volunteer faculty member.
Assessment: This is a useful, easily read, concise book on this increasingly important topic in medical education. It is limited in its discussion of emerging concerns for community-based teachers, such as the impact of managed care on volunteer teachers, new Medicare physician documentation requirements for billing when patients are seen by residents and medical students, medical-legal aspects of allowing learners to care for patients, graduate medical education funding in ambulatory settings, working with medical students and residents with problems, and dealing with teacher-pupil conflict. An expanded bibliography about the economic costs to the practicing physician who teaches in the office would be helpful.

Rick Kellerman

This is a guide to developing practical education programs for medical students and residents in primary care physician community-based practices. As medical care shifts from an inpatient to an outpatient focus, successful innovation in medical student and resident education in community-based settings is necessary. Community-based teaching explains how to plan teaching programs with volunteer faculty in office and community settings. The book will be most useful to course directors who have been newly charged with developing community-based educational programs. For those already administering successful programs, it is a good review and will stimulate new ideas. Community-based volunteer faculty with interests in the process of medical education will also enjoy the book. The book explores how to recruit, train, and maintain a quality cadre of volunteer faculty; the development, evaluation, and enhancement of curriculum and teaching methodologies in a community-based setting; financial implications to the medical school and the practitioner; and expectations and needs of the student, resident, and volunteer faculty. Four model programs that have successfully integrated community-based training into their academic teaching programs are explained. Useful tools are an appendix of 25 "Frequently Asked Questions" pertinent to community-based teaching and a first-person "One Day's Experience" written by a volunteer faculty member. This is a useful, easily read, concise book on this increasingly important topic in medical education. It is limited in its discussion of emerging concerns for community-based teachers, such as the impact of managed care on volunteer teachers, new Medicarephysician documentation requirements for billing when patients are seen by residents and medical students, medical-legal aspects of allowing learners to care for patients, graduate medical education funding in ambulatory settings, working with medical students and residents with problems, and dealing with teacher-pupil conflict. An expanded bibliography about the economic costs to the practicing physician who teaches in the office would be helpful.

3 Stars from Doody