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  Point-of-Care Ultrasound Curriculum Development in a Family Medicine Residency

  David Adams, Dylan Rogers, and Jennifer Kowalkowski

  Publication Date: 4-28-2022

  Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is an expanding area of medicine and quickly becoming a necessary skill for which clinical physicians must have foundational knowledge1. The goal of our curriculum development is to guide the resident in becoming competent in the use of POCUS to aid in clinical decision making in both inpatient and outpatient settings by providing learning opportunities that will enable residents to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to apply it as a frequently used tool to improve quality and promptness of care.

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  Effects of State-Wide Mandatory Automated Prescribing System on Safe Medication Disposal

  Helen E. Huetteman and Elie Mulhem

  Publication Date: 5-2-2022

  INTRODUCTION
  In June 2018, Michigan lawmakers passed new legislation to restrict and monitor controlled substance prescriptions, leading to a significant decrease in the prescribing of opioids. This project aims to evaluate effects of this legislation on safe medication disposal trends throughout the state.

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  Documentation of Procedural Training and Competencies in Community-Based Family Medicine Programs

  Rohan Venida and Carolyn Nelson

  Publication Date: 5-2022

  Introduction

  Training of common outpatient procedures is an integral and complex part of a Family Medicine residency program. In addition to graduation requirements, many Family Medicine residents strive to become competent in a variety of procedures to maintain a broad scope of practice. It can be a challenge for residency programs to deliver procedural training and have accurate documentation of procedure competency. Training is often predicated on patient volume and patient population exposure, so it can be difficult to adequately train and assess residents in the entire range of procedures. Additionally, programs face challenges such as limited resources, lack of a structured curriculum, limited funds, and lack of time. Smaller programs face even more hurdles, including fewer faculty and limited access to expensive equipment and skills labs. In addition to providing proper training, documentation of competency for various procedures comes with its own challenges, such as the use of paper forms, the costs associated with using a digital app or website for documentation, not having access to the procedure forms on elective or away rotations, the time delay between the preceptor observing the resident’s procedure and documenting feedback, and the inefficiencies of data collection and interpretation. A needs assessment was performed by eleven Family Medicine program directors in Michigan regarding their current methods of procedural training along with challenges they face in training and documenting procedures.