Perspectives on Procedure Importance: Residents, Faculty, and Community Practitioners

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Procedural training is integral to family medicine residencies. Although accreditation bodies require that family medicine residency programs train residents in procedures relevant to their practices, there are no standards defining the scope of family medicine. We compared the perceived importance of 31 procedures by faculty, residents, and recent graduates of one institution. METHODS: An online survey was sent to current residents and faculty of a large academic family medicine residency, as well as community practitioners who had graduated from that residency within the past 5 years. The survey asked participants to rate how important 31 procedures are for family medicine practices. RESULTS: The overall response rate was 37%. Most respondents provided outpatient care, and few provided or intended to provide obstetric care. Dermatologic and musculoskeletal procedures were rated as having high importance by all groups, whereas obstetric and inpatient procedures received lower ratings. Residents ascribed higher importance than faculty or recent graduates for nearly all procedures. CONCLUSIONS: Most residents, faculty, and community practitioners provided outpatient care and rated dermatologic and musculoskeletal procedures as important. Inpatient and obstetric care are less common career paths, and related procedures were rated as less important. Resident physicians ascribed greater importance than community practitioners for many procedures, which may be due misperceptions of their future practice needs or imposed requirements for graduation.