Return to Web Version
American Academy of Family Physicians

Urban/Inner-City Training Program in Family Medicine

See also:
Medically Underserved
Rural Residency
Health Workforce Training
Medical Schools, Service to Minority, Vulnerable and Underserved Populations
An "Urban/Inner-City Training Program in Family Medicine" may be defined by any one of the following three criteria:
  1. A program with at least 80% of training based at an inner-city location.
  2. A program from which at least 50% of its graduates in the previous three years have chosen to practice in an inner-city Community Health Center (CHC), Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), or similar clinical setting serving low-income patients.
  3. A program that includes all of the following components in addition to the longitudinal experience of clinical practice in the urban/inner-city environment:
    1. A mission statement that includes a commitment to care of the urban underserved.
    2. A Family Medicine Center located in and serving an urban/inner-city patient population;
    3. Training to provide culturally effective community-responsive primary care;
    4. At least one month or 100 hours (may be longitudinal) of clinical experience in an urban community health center, homeless shelter or similar facility;
    5. At least one month or 100 hours (may be longitudinal) experience in an urban public health department setting;
    6. At least two months clinical hands-on experience in the Emergency Department of an urban/inner-city Level II or higher trauma center;
    7. At least one month or 100 hours (may be longitudinal) of clinical hands-on experience in an HIV/AIDS clinic or similar setting;
    8. A required structured educational experience in occupational health;
    9. A required structured educational experience in adolescent medicine;
    10. A required structured educational experience in the care of patients with acute and chronic mental illness;
    11. A required clinical hands-on experience in a substance abuse treatment facility or program;
The current federal definition for an urban/inner-city metropolitan area is one with a population of 500,000 persons or more. There may be many family medicine residency programs that can meet the elements of A. above in a metropolitan area of less than 500,000 persons. (2004)