About the Program

The Faculty Development Fellowship in Family Medicine offer a Masters in Medical Education (MME) degree as well as supported clinical and classroom teaching experience and further development of family medicine clinical expertise.

Statement of Purpose

The purpose of this 2-year fellowship is to develop and train family physicians early in their careers to fill positions of academic medicine leadership. This will be accomplished by providing them with a rigorous background in medical education theory. Fellows will also have opportunities for developing expertise in effective clinical teaching, strengthening their clinical effectiveness through experience, and exploring their research interests. These activities will be carried out within a supported and mentored context to facilitate their overall leadership skills. They will have the opportunity to fully experience the opportunities of a faculty educator. 

Rationale

Family Medicine is critical to the health of a population. Family physician educators play the key role in training the next generation of these health care providers. In addition to creating the human resources to fulfill this clinical need, these educators play a central role in shaping the intellectual and conceptual foundation of primary care. Academic Family Medicine must develop and support strong training programs which will facilitate the development of our next generation of educators. 

While it was once assumed that a competent clinician would naturally be an effective teacher, it is now acknowledged that preparation for teaching is essential. All teachers, regardless of discipline, benefit from an understanding of fundamentals of educational theory and guided practice in effective teaching. In addition, given the increasing complexity and pressures of healthcare delivery, new approaches to teaching and learning, and competing demands on teachers' time, faculty members require a broad range of teaching and learning strategies that can be used in diverse settings. Current economic and social indicators also point to the need for educating leaders in the health professions who can manage change within their fields, overcome organizational barriers, and effectively direct the future of health care delivery systems. 

The purpose of this fellowship is to provide the training and development necessary to produce effective leaders in Family Medicine education. Accordingly, the program will recruit and enroll family physicians who have, or are preparing for, educational leadership positions but who lack appropriate formal training. 

Using a carefully constructed curriculum over 2 years, this program will allow family physicians to gain skills in the areas of teaching, instructional design, and assessment across the medical education 
continuum (undergraduate, graduate, and CME) and while concurrently allowing them enhancement of their clinical skills. In addition to building new knowledge and new skills, our fellowship has been designed to mentor our fellows' personal development as academic professionals. 

Our Objectives for Training

Program Objectives: To provide each Medical Education Fellow with the opportunity to:

 1. Complete course work leading to a Masters of Medical Education at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine including:
      • Educational foundation coursework (Educational Theory, Instructional Design, Educational Measurement)
      • Clinical Teaching and Assessment in Medical Education
      • Medical Education Research Design and Evaluation

  2. Obtain supported experience in effective medical teaching

            • Acquire experience in classroom teaching:
                          • Undergraduate level
                          • Graduate level
                          • Formal presentation level

           • Integrate clinical practice expertise and theory of effective clinical teaching in practice through clinical teaching:

                         • Undergraduate teaching: precept medical students in outpatient and inpatient settings

                         • Resident teaching: Staffing with residents in the outpatient office and inpatient service (precepting and call).

 3. Participate in Family Medicine professional developmental experiences related to their individual personal and career goals

                         • Participate in structured and informal mentoring activities with FM faculty in career management, norms,
                           values, “unwritten behavior codes of academic medicine”

                         • Develop skills in networking at state regional or national level through participation in Iowa Academy of Family
                           Physicians (IAFP), STFM or other organizations.

4.  Build upon and further develop their Family Medicine clinical expertise

                         • Develop their solid foundation as a clinical practitioner through a half-time appointment at a University of Iowa affiliated family medicine clinic.

5. Explore and develop research interests and skills
 

Master in Medical Education (MME) Goals

• Design evidence-based educational programs and materials with appropriate scope, sequence, and focus for intended learners.

• Deliver effective instruction to individuals and small or large groups in classroom, laboratory, or clinical settings.

• Evaluate the effectiveness of educational instruction, using both formative and summative methods.

• Understand basic principles of educational measurement and apply these principles to medical education.

• Understand basic principles of educational research and apply these principles to interpret and use educational research.

• Use assessments to promote learning and assess learning progress and status.

• Apply the fundamental theories, designs, and methods of program evaluation to the medical education environment.

• Identify current issues in medical education and resources available for monitoring developments in the field.

• Develop skills in reflection on past experience (including skills of self-awareness, self-analysis, and self-evaluation) that results in the ability to generate a new perspective or plan of action.

• Identify the evolving role of technology in medical education and research.

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