Family medicine month in a university-based program: establishing a family medicine identity

"Family Medicine Month," a rotation forfirst-year residents, was developed to clarifyfirst-year residents'new roles as family physicians. The rotation explored the meaning and history of the specialty, as well as teaching core family medicine clinical and behavioral skills. Twenty residents who participated in the rotation in 1999 and 2000 indicated satisfaction with the rotation and endorsed its usefulness. They also reported greater self efficacy in performing family practice skills after the rotation, compared with before the rotation. Results suggest that a curriculum based on the context of family medicine as a specialty enhances resident satisfaction and self efficacy.