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Should Family Medicine Embrace Community Involvement and Engagement?
Colleen T Fogarty1, Saroj Misra2, Brian A Kessler3
1Department of Family Medicine University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester Medical Center.
Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM
|August 6, 2026
Summary
Family medicine emphasizes a whole-person approach, requiring community context understanding. However, true community engagement is often unrealistic for modern family physicians due to heavy workloads.
Area of Science:
- Family Medicine
- Community Health
- Public Health
Background:
- Family medicine utilizes a whole-person, contextual approach to patient care.
- Understanding community context is crucial for effective family medicine practice.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines community broadly, emphasizing shared ties and joint action.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the role and feasibility of community engagement in contemporary family medicine.
- To examine the challenges faced by family physicians in implementing community engagement principles.
- To assess the impact of current healthcare demands on physicians' ability to engage with their communities.
Main Methods:
- Literature review on community engagement principles and family medicine practice.
- Analysis of the definition of community provided by the CDC.
- Discussion of the integration of community service in physician training programs.
Main Results:
- Community engagement involves ten key principles for improving community health.
- Despite its importance, true community engagement is often unrealistic for practicing family physicians.
- Factors such as large panel sizes, high visit volumes, and documentation burdens limit physicians' capacity for community engagement.
Conclusions:
- While community context is vital in family medicine, practical implementation of deep community engagement is challenging.
- Current healthcare system demands present significant barriers to family physicians actively participating in community engagement.
- Re-evaluation of practice structures may be needed to facilitate meaningful community engagement in family medicine.
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