Purpose: Burnout is a threat to the primary care workforce. We investigated the relationship between team structure, team culture, and emotional exhaustion of clinicians and staff in primary care practices.Methods: We surveyed 231 clinicians and 280 staff members of 10 public and 6 university-run primary care clinics in San Francisco in 2012. Predictor variables included team structure, such as working in a tight teamlet, and perception of team culture. The outcome variable was the Maslach emotional exhaustion scale. Generalized estimation equation models were used to account for clustering at the clinic level.Results: Working in a tight team structure and perceptions of a greater team culture were associated with less clinician exhaustion. Team structure and team culture interacted to predict exhaustion: among clinicians reporting low team culture, team structure seemed to have little effect on exhaustion, whereas among clinicians reporting high team culture, tighter team structure was associated with less exhaustion. Greater team culture was associated with less exhaustion among staff. However, unlike for clinicians, team structure failed to predict exhaustion among staff.Conclusions: Fostering team culture may be an important strategy to protect against exhaustion in primary care and enhance the benefit of tight team structures. (J Am Board Fam Med 2014;27: 229 -238.)

Provider perceptions of greater clinic capacity to address SN are significantly associated with lower burnout. Devoting organizational resources to address SN may reduce PCP burnout.

Context and Objective:Patient advisory councils (PACs) are a strategy for primary care clinics to engage patients in practice improvement. However, there is scant research on how PACs function. This study aimed to understand how PACs are organized and identify common challenges and perceived benefits of high-functioning PACs.Setting and Population: Key informants identified 8 primary care clinics in California with highfunctioning PACs. Leaders from each of the 8 clinics nominated 1 clinic staff member and 1 PAC patient member to be interviewed.Study Design: Semistructured, one-on-one interviews were conducted at each clinic site or by phone. Interviews were dual-coded using modified grounded theory. Common themes were identified that would be pertinent to the development of future best practices for running PACs.Results: Common characteristics of high-functioning PACs included careful attention to participant recruitment, facilitation strategies guiding diverse personalities toward a common purpose, and assigning accountability for practice improvement projects. Interviewees identified a variety of positive outcomes that ranged from tangible improvements to the waiting area to a more patient-centered staff culture.

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Primary care residency programs and their associated primary care clinics face challenges in their goal to simultaneously provide a good education for tomorrow's doctors and excellent care for today's patients. A team from the Center for Excellence in Primary Care at the University of California, San Francisco, conducted site visits to 23 family medicine, internal medicine, and pediatric residency teaching clinics. The authors found that a number of programs have transformed themselves with respect to engaged leadership, resident scheduling, continuity of care for patients and residents, team-based care, and resident engagement in practice improvement. In this Commentary, the authors highlight the features of transforming programs that are melding inspiring resident education with excellent patient care. The authors propose a model, the 10 + 3 Building Blocks of Primary Care Teaching Clinics, to illustrate the themes that characterize transforming primary care residency programs.