Visiting clinician program in primary care internal medicine.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Internal Medicine Training
• Primary Care Education

Background:

• Internal medicine residency programs require continuous improvement in resident education and faculty development.
• Effective communication and external critique are essential for enhancing training programs.
• A visiting clinician program can address these needs by bringing in external expertise.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of a visiting clinician program on internal medicine residency education.
• To assess the program's effectiveness in improving teaching quality and providing program critique.
• To foster communication between faculty at the host institution and external programs.

Main Methods:

• Implemented a visiting clinician program within a primary care internal medicine training program.
• Thirty-one visitors participated over a two-year period.
• Collected feedback through resident observations and a post-visit telephone survey of visitors.

Main Results:

• Visitors served as effective teachers, leading to improvements in local faculty teaching techniques.
• Visitors provided 337 suggestions for program enhancement.
• Over half of the visitors applied ideas from the host institution to their own programs.
• The program successfully enhanced resident education and faculty communication.

Conclusions:

• The visiting clinician program effectively improved resident education and provided valuable program feedback.
• The initiative strengthened inter-institutional collaboration and faculty development.
• The program's evolution offers insights for institutions developing similar programs.