Implementing team-based telemedicine workflows in safety-net primary care.

OBJECTIVES: Challenges in implementing telemedicine disproportionately affect patients served in safety-net settings. Few studies have elucidated pragmatic, team-based strategies for successful telemedicine implementation in primary care, especially with a safety-net population. STUDY DESIGN: We conducted in-depth, semistructured qualitative interviews with primary care clinicians and staff in a large urban safety-net health care system on the facilitators, challenges, and impact of implementing team workflows for synchronous telemedicine video and audio-only visits. METHODS: Interviews were analyzed using modified grounded theory with multistage coding. Common themes were identified and reviewed to describe within-group and between-group variations. We used the Practical, Robust Implementation Sustainability Model framework to organize the final themes with an implementation science lens. RESULTS: Four themes emerged from 11 interviews: (1) having a dedicated individual preparing patients for video visits is a prerequisite for the successful introduction of video visits to patients with limited digital literacy; (2) health care maintenance during video and audio-only visits benefits from standardized workflows and communication; (3) the increased flexibility and accessibility of telemedicine visits were perceived benefits to patient care, despite barriers for subsets of patients; and (4) telemedicine visits generally have a positive impact on work experience for clinicians and staff due to increased efficiency, despite audio-only visits feeling less engaging. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding how to strategically use team-based workflows to expand video visit access while ensuring care quality of all telemedicine visits will allow primary care practices to maximize telemedicine's benefits to patients in the safety-net setting.

Storylines of family medicine XII: family medicine and the healthcare system.

Storylines of Family Medicine is a 12-part series of thematically linked mini-essays with accompanying illustrations that explore the many dimensions of family medicine, as interpreted by individual family physicians and medical educators in the USA and elsewhere around the world. In 'XII: Family medicine and the future of the healthcare system', authors address the following themes: 'Leadership in family medicine', 'Becoming an academic family physician', 'Advocare-our call to act', 'The paradox of primary care and three simple rules', 'The quadruple aim-melding the patient and the health system', 'Fit-for-purpose medical workforce', 'Universal healthcare-coverage for all', 'The futures of family medicine' and 'The 100th essay.' May readers of these essays feel empowered to be part of family medicine's exciting future.

Longitudinal Interleaved Residency Training: A Consensus Definition.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Cognitive benefits of longitudinal curricula and interleaving have been demonstrated in several disciplines. However, most residency curricula are structured in a block format. There is no consensus definition as to what constitutes a longitudinal program, making comparative research on curricular efficacy a challenge. The objective of our study was to arrive at a consensus definition of Longitudinal Interleaved Residency Training (LIRT) in family medicine. METHODS: A national workgroup was convened and utilized a Delphi method between October 2021 and March 2022 to arrive at a consensus definition. RESULTS: Twenty-four invitations were sent, and 18 participants initially accepted. The final workgroup (n=13) was representative of the nationwide diversity of family medicine residency programs in terms of geographic location (P=.977) and population density (P=.123). The following definition was approved: "LIRT is a curricular design and program structure that offers graduated, concurrent clinical experiences in the core competencies of the specialty. LIRT models the comprehensive scope of practice and continuity that defines the specialty; applies training methods that enhance long-term retention of knowledge, skills, and attitudes across all dimensions and locations of care delivery; and accomplishes program objectives through employment of longitudinal curricular scheduling and interleaving with spaced repetition." Additional technical criteria and definitions of terms are elucidated in the body of this article. CONCLUSIONS: A representative national workgroup crafted a consensus definition of Longitudinal Interleaved Residency Training (LIRT) in family medicine, a program structure with a basis in emerging evidence-based cognitive science.

Models of Faculty Involvement in Primary Care Residency Teaching Clinics.

Through site visits to 42 teaching clinics associated with family and internal medicine residency programs during 2013-2018, the authors observed a spectrum of faculty involvement. In this Perspective, they describe and share examples of the 3 faculty models they identified. Some programs have a small, focused faculty whose members spend at least 5 half-day sessions per week seeing patients or precepting residents in the clinic. Others have a large, dispersed faculty with many faculty physicians who spend 1 or 2 half-day sessions per week in the clinic. Some use a hybrid model with a small focused faculty group plus other faculty with little clinic time. The dispersed model was observed only in university-based residencies, and the focused faculty model was commonly seen in community-based residencies. While faculty in both settings must juggle multiple responsibilities, several studies have confirmed the value of having faculty committed to ambulatory care and teaching. In site visit interviews, clinic leaders indicated focused faculty play an important role in teaching clinics by championing clinic improvement, improving continuity of care, and enhancing the resident experience. Faculty physicians who spend substantial time in the clinic know the residents' patients, provide greater continuity of care, anchor clinic teams, and coordinate coverage for residents when they are on other rotations. Clinic and residency program leaders generally favored a shift toward a focused or hybrid model. The authors view the hybrid model as a practical way to balance the challenges of having a focused faculty with the multiple responsibilities facing university- and community-based faculty.

Continuity of Care in Residency Teaching Practices: Lessons from "Bright Spots".

Continuity of care is a challenge in primary care residency teaching clinics. Resident physicians have competing inpatient and outpatient responsibilities and often spend only 1 to 2 half-days per week in the clinic. Their clinic schedules are often pieced together after the needs of inpatient and specialty rotations are met. Similarly, faculty clinicians often balance limited clinic time with teaching, research, or administrative responsibilities. Seeking approaches to improve continuity of care, we visited 23 internal medicine, family medicine, and pediatric residency clinics across the US. This article highlights strategies to optimize continuity of care pioneered by 3 "bright spot" residency teaching clinics with high-continuity performance. The strategies include adopting a strong continuity culture and patient scheduling algorithms that prioritize continuity, appointing a team continuity anchor, and/or reorganizing resident and faculty schedules to maximize continuity. We hope that these perspectives can assist residency teaching practices to improve continuity of care for their patients.