Family practice curriculum: how well does it reflect family practice?

We developed a survey to send alumni from the family practice program at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Program graduates were asked how well they had been trained in 29 curricular areas during their residency program. Family practice alumni from programs in Virginia, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Washington responded to similar questions in previous studies. The Kendal coefficient of concordance was used to determine whether or not graduates of these programs saw the same pattern of curricular strengths and weaknesses; results showed a similar pattern of training needs across the country (W = .81, P less than .001). Alumni saw a need for more training in orthopedics, rehabilitation, and office management.