Mapping Residency Global Health Experiences to the ACGME Family Medicine Milestones

Global health (GH) experiences are a unique part of family medicine (FM) training that offer an opportunity for residents to demonstrate development across a multitude of the milestones recently implemented by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The GH experience presents an opportunity for resident development, and including a component of written reflection can provide tangible evidence of development in areas that can be difficult to assess.

A mixed methods approach was used to integrate quantitative (frequency) data with qualitative content from the written reflections of 12 of our FM residents who participated in GH experiences.

Written reflections touched on each of the 22 milestones, although some milestones were noted more frequently than others. The most commonly identified milestones fell within the competency areas of systems-based practice, professionalism, and practice-based learning and improvement. Our qualitative approach allowed us to gain an appreciation of the unique experiences that demonstrated growth across the various milestones.

We conclude that any program that offers GH experiences should incorporate some form of written reflection to maximize resident growth and offer evaluative faculty a window into that development.