Research & Scholarly Activity

As a rural community family medicine residency, our focus is on experiential learning through direct patient care along with a rigorous didactic curriculum. This has served us well as our graduates have a first time pass rate of 99% on the American Board of Family Medicine certification examination. Our graduates are also well-prepared to embark on future academic training, if they choose, and have a 100% fellowship match rate.

Didactics

Didactics occurs for one hour each morning, consisting of a variety of topics and learning modalities. Some examples include specialist lectures, skills workshops, journal clubs, M&Ms, case presentations and more.

Our morning conferences are attended by a geriatrician and a Doctor of Pharmacy, both of whom aid in putting the conference topics into practical clinical contexts.

Quality Improvement

We require each resident to do an office-based quality improvement (QI) project in addition to a second scholarly project of their choice during residency and to present at least one of these scholarly projects at the regional, state or national level. In recent years, our residents have won multiple honors for “Best Presentation” and “Best Project” at regional conferences.

Authorship

Recently, three teams consisting of five faculty members and three residents have authored review articles that have been submitted to and accepted for publication by “American Family Physician.”

POCUS

Our residency program is currently developing a point of care ultrasound curriculum (POCUS) consisting of lectures, online simulation modules, and hands-on learning. “Butterfly” ultrasound probes are available for use at each clinic to facilitate further learning, joint injections, and diagnostics.

Culinary Medicine

Our program is currently developing a culinary medicine curriculum in order to incorporate resident training in nutrition basics, cooking, and education in communicating this guidance to patients. We are in the process of developing a community kitchen in which to put this training into action, teaching patients practical cooking skills in a hands-on environment.

Global Medicine

Our residents have initiated a global medicine missions outreach program in conjunction with the organization Friends of Barnabas. Residents and faculty will be making an inaugural trip Spring 2025, with plans for further trips thereafter.