Addressing the Scholarly Activity Requirements for Residents: One Program's Solution

Scholarly activity as a component of residency education is becoming increasingly emphasized by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. "Limited or no evidence of resident or faculty scholarly activity" is a common citation given to family medicine residency programs by the Review Committee for Family Medicine.

The objective was to provide a model scholarly activity curriculum that has been successful in improving the quality of graduate medical education in a family medicine residency program, as evidenced by a record of resident academic presentations and publications.

We provide a description of the Clinical Scholars Program that has been implemented into the curriculum of the Trident/Medical University of South Carolina Family Medicine Residency Program.

During the most recent 10-year academic period (2000-2010), a total of 111 residents completed training and participated in the Clinical Scholars Program. This program has produced more than 24 presentations during national and international meetings of medical societies and 15 publications in peer-reviewed medical journals. In addition, many of the projects have been presented during meetings of state and regional medical organizations.

This paper presents a model curriculum for teaching about scholarship to family medicine residents. The success of this program is evidenced by the numerous presentations and publications by participating residents.