MINNEAPOLIS, August 12, 2008—Family medicine residents and students addressed the medical home concept at the  2008 National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students July 30-Aug. 2 in Kansas City.

Delegates to the National Congress of Student Members showed their strong support for the patient-centered medical home (PC-MH) concept. One resolution passed at the conference characterized it as "rapidly becoming the recognized best practice in delivery of primary care in America."

Attendees at the conference asked the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) to draw up medical home curriculum objectives that would be incorporated in medical school curriculums and family medicine residency programs. They further called on the AAFP to challenge the nation's medical schools and family medicine residency programs to adopt these objectives by 2015.

Resident and student delegates also asked the AAFP to reinstate a popular three-year economic hardship loan deferment program. The best way to accomplish that goal, they said, is to blanket high-level federal government officials with letters making a case for it.

Students and residents who attended the conference also considered resolutions that addressed various aspects of pharmaceutical companies' interactions with physicians and physicians-in-training.

The student delegates adopted a resolution that asks the Academy to "review and update practice guidelines for physician interactions with pharmaceutical sales representatives" in light of the newly strengthened Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association, or PhRMA.

The delegates also adopted a measure asking that educational programming on pharmaceutical influences, the new PhRMA code, and tools to guide residents and students in their interactions with the drug industry be among topics considered for inclusion at the 2009 resident and student conference. And they asked the Academy to consider developing other educational resources on interacting with drug representatives.

Source: AAFP Online