“Being a part of the Family Medicine AEE provided an opportunity for me to view… uninsured patients with a different perspective by understanding how their health and wellness is significantly affected by being unable to afford to pay for their medical expenses”. —M1 student Family Medicine Academic Enrichment Elective: Using Technology, Communication, and Reflection to Generate Family Medicine Exposure to First-Year Medical Students Kayleen P. Papin, MD; Douglas J. Bower, MD; Nancy Havas, MD; Sabina Diehr, MD; Joan Bedinghaus MD, Karen Hulbert, MD and Tess Chandler BACKGROUND: The Family Medicine Academic Enrichment Elective (AEE) at the Medical College of Wisconsin is an elective course offered to M1 and M2 medical students who are interested in exploring Family Medicine as a career choice. Integral to the AEE is a Family Medicine faculty advisor who provide students with clinical opportunities and feedback on student reflections about the specialty of Family Medicine. The goal of the Foundations of Family Medicine AEE, is to provide early career development opportunities to well-qualified medical students who are considering Family Medicine as a career choice. The AEE was piloted in the Spring of 2009 with 13 students (9 M1 & 4 M2) and 13 faculty. COMPONENTS OF THE PROGRAM: 1. Clinical exposure to family medicine - Uninsured & private clinics 2. Group FM Learning Community activities (M1 to M4 students) - Poverty simulation - FM lecture series - Service learning activities - Social gatherings 3. Required article reading & video 4. Required active Reflection - One submitted on each clinical or group activity or article read - Shared with Family Medicine faculty advisor Advisor gives feedback/commentary electronically or FTF 5. “Certificate of Completion” on academic transcript at end of year E-PORTFOLIO: ELF (Electronic Learning File) - Students can track their progress - Better portfolio component than previously-used system - Working out other software glitches. REFLECTIONS Students generated detailed reflections on experiences Only seen by student & advisor Seen as “busy work” by some students Many reflections were very thoughtful, highlighted principles of FM Excerpts (below) were put in “The Voice” newsletter to share: LEARNING COMMUNITY ACTIVITES: Student feedback: -Group volunteer activities are well-received (AM at Free Clinic) - Group learning was highly-valued (Poverty Simulation) Faculty feedback: - Filling a void of positive FM role model in early med school years Lessons learned: - Scheduling is complicated involving students across four years of medical school - It is a challenge to involve off-campus/residency faculty - Furthering a learning community: - through technology (Facebook in process) - through a physical space (lounge in Dept of FM) “While shadowing Dr. Papin, I was able to observe the way she speaks with her patients...almost as if she is having a conversation with a friend. When I am a practicing physician, I want fostering a positive patient-doctor relationship to be my top priority.” —M2 student OVERALL EXPERIENCE: Student feedback: - Clinical time and advisor relationships are valued - More discussion of articles in group session Faculty feedback: - Technology needs buy-in - Find a balance between electronic & FTF communication - Need time to dedicate to student activities FUTURE PLANS: Pilot program was encouraging, so AEE is expanding. First full-year AEE: academic year - 28 students in Foundations AEE - 6 students in Advanced AEE (did the pilot in Spring 2009) - 25 faculty in both AEE’s Themes of TIME & SPACE - coordinated time for students and faculty - a physical space to come together in a Learning Community Further the student reflections with publication opportunities Technology: i-Tunes U - content page is under development at MCW - sharing lectures & seminar sessions Support for PreDoc initiatives referred to here, partially funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Grant # D56HP10304