Comparison of Intended Scope of Practice for Family Medicine Residents With Reported Scope of Practice Among Practicing Family Physicians

Abstract

In this study of family physicians taking ABFM examinations, graduating family medicine residents reported an intention to provide a broader scope of practice than that reported by current practitioners. This pattern suggests that these differences are not generational, but whether they are due to limited practice support, employer constraints, or other causes remains to be determined.

Wide Gap between Preparation and Scope of Practice of Early Career Family Physicians

“…1 Residency graduates in a single state indicated a lack of training to be a common reason for not providing procedures 2 , but the gap between preparation for and practice of a broad array of clinical services common in family medicine has not been rigorously studied. Our objective was to investigate differences in reported preparation for practice and actual scope of practice for early career family physicians.…”

Characteristics of Graduating Family Medicine Residents Who Intend to Practice Maternity Care

“…Completion of the questionnaire was a required component of the application, and yielded a 100% response rate. Individual characteristics were self-reported by respondents and are reported in our study as the questions were asked in the ABFM questionnaire, the details of which are shown in Table 1 of Coutinho et al 8 We linked applicants to their residency programs to explore the associations of residency-level characteristics with intentions to provide maternity care. Residency program characteristics were primarily obtained from the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Residency Directory 12 and supplemented with the Teaching Health Center (THC) directory 13 and the rural training track directory.…”

“…6 However, a recent study using 2014 survey data from the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) at the time of application for board certification suggests that more graduating residents report intention to provide maternity care than that reported by current family physicians. 8,9 Specifically, a cross-sectional study found that while 23% of graduating family medicine residents reported intention to provide obstetrical deliveries when applying for initial certification, 9% reported actual provision of deliveries when recertifying 1 to 10 years into practice. Similarly, 50% of graduating residents report intent to provide prenatal care, but only 12% report doing so 1 to 10 years into practice.…”

Intention Versus Reality: Family Medicine Residency Graduates' Intention to Practice Obstetrics

“…[1][2][3] A study of 2014 data showed a much higher percentage of graduating family medicine residents intending to perform deliveries compared with those actually doing so. 2 With a projected shortage of obstetricians/gynecologists and the continued decline in family physicians including delivery as a part of their practice, those new family medicine graduates who want to include deliveries are urgently needed to do so.…”