UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS
Project Title: Preparing family medicine residents to care for the underserved: Using simulation to enhance resident procedural skills and patient access to comprehensive care. The Worcester Family Medicine Residency (WFMR) is committed to training compassionate and skilled family physicians who will go on to practice in a number of areas, heavily concentrated in Massachusetts. The residency seeks to prepare physicians for comprehensive practice in underserved areas in particular. There are currently 36 residents in the program. In addition, a number of medical students from the University of Massachusetts rotate in core clerkships as well as electives within the department. The residency seeks to enhance the learning, in particular the procedural skills, of its residents by the use of simulation equipment in training. This plan is based on a need declared by residents within the program as well as a growing national need for primary care physicians who can provide comprehensive patient care with expanded procedural skills. This is particularly true in underserved areas where access to medical care is inadequate. By using simulation equipment, the WFMR seeks to create a uniform curriculum that will allow its residents to become competent and confident in performing those procedures and skills that will be required of family physicians. These range from the most basic office-based preventive practices to the most catastrophic emergencies. The equipment purchased would allow for simulation of examination techniques (eg. pelvic exams and pap smears), outpatient and bedside procedures (eg. joint injections, ultrasound-guided paracentesis), and emergency code situations (adult and pediatric codes, obstetrical emergencies). Anticipated Outcomes: We anticipate that with the availability of simulation equipment the WFMR faculty will develop a structured simulation curriculum that fits into the current curriculum to enhance the resident educational experience as well as patient access to care. We anticipate that the equipment will be ordered and purchased prior to the end of 2010, arriving by January 2011. The curriculum structure will be expanded throughout 2011 with faculty development occurring in early 2011.