PURPOSE Building research capacity and increasing scholarly productivity are identified needs of the specialty of family medicine. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has increased the scholarly requirements for residency programs, placing even more pressure on faculty to be productive in the scholarly realm. The Council of Academic Family Medicine Educational Research Alliance (CERA) was created by volunteer members of the specialty with shared interests in overcoming barriers and increasing scholarly production.METHODS CERA has developed the infrastructure and expertise to regularly conduct omnibus surveys of key family medicine educational leaders. Proposals are centrally collected and competitively chosen. The omnibus survey process includes collaboration with experienced mentors, centralized institutional review board clearance, pilot testing, and centralized data collection. The survey results are disseminated back to research teams for presentation and publication of the findings. RESULTSTo date, over 115 research teams have had their projects included in CERA omnibus surveys. Projects have been led by research teams from across the country and with a wide variety of research experience. This collaborative work has resulted in more than 75 scientific presentations and over 55 peer-reviewed papers in the medical literature. The raw data are now available online and serve as a repository for future secondary analysis and as an educational resource. CONCLUSIONSThe CERA infrastructure has allowed a large number of research teams to conduct meaningful scholarship at a fraction of the typical cost in terms of time and energy. CERA has expanded family medicine research by removing barriers for teams with limited experience or resources. 2018;16:257-260. https://doi Ann Fam Med

This paper presents a study based on the participation of PGY2 and PGY3 family medicine residents in Balint seminars that occurred twice monthly for 24 months. Balint groups were cofacilitated by leader pairs experienced with the Balint method. Prior to residency graduation, 18 of 19 eligible resident physicians (94.5%) completed 30- to 60-min semistructured interviews conducted by a research assistant. Resident physicians were told that these individual interviews concerned "…how we teach communication in residency." The deidentified transcripts from these interviews formed the raw data that were coded for positive (n = 9) and negative (n = 3) valence themes by four faculty coders utilizing an iterative process based on grounded theory. The consensus positive themes included several elements that have previously been discussed in published literature concerning the nature of Balint groups (e.g., being the doctor that the patient needs, reflection, empathy, blind spots, bonding, venting, acceptance, perspective taking, and developing appreciation for individual experiences). The negative themes pointed to ways of possibly improving future Balint offerings in the residency setting ( repetitive, uneasiness, uncertain impact). These findings appear to have consistency with seminal writings of both Michael and Enid Balint regarding the complex nature of intrapsychic and interpersonal skills required to effectively manage troubling doctor-patient relationships. The implications of findings for medical education (curriculum) development as well as future research efforts are discussed.

The admission ranking and interview process at this medical school did not predict clinical performance or patients' satisfaction on this OSCE.