FMIG Leaders Share Success Stories, Advice

A "baby beeper" alerts a first- or second-year medical student to rush to the labor and delivery area of the local hospital where a family medicine resident soon will deliver a baby. Students in another medical school help find and care for homeless people under bridges or on the streets. These and other experiences give students an exciting entrée into family medicine, according to a recent panel presentation by leaders of family medicine interest groups, or FMIGs.

The panelists presented "FMIGs Make a Difference" during the National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students here Aug. 2-5, to suggest ways to share a passion for family medicine.

At Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, for example, a medical student can carry a baby beeper for a week, receive calls from a family medicine resident who is working with pregnant mothers, and be on hand for births. "The excitement of being able to attend a birth is phenomenal," said Shannon Brooke from OHSU. "It feeds your interest" in family medicine.

The OHSU FMIG, which created the baby beeper program, also offers a workshop in labor and delivery support; presenters are family medicine faculty members, FMIG members and doulas (i.e., nonmedical childbirth supporters). Medical students who both carry the baby beeper and attend the workshop receive credit for the combined experience.

At West Virginia University, Morgantown, FMIG members engage students in an outreach project called Multidisciplinary UnSheltered Homeless Relief Outreach of Morgantown, or MUSHROOM.

"We do street rounds," said Anna Skold from WVU. "We go out to where the homeless are," whether that's under a bridge or at a riverside camp. The students accompany family physicians, a social worker and people who were formerly homeless. "The former homeless often know some people who are still on the streets," said Skold. "We bring health care to the people," as well as food and clothing.

At Ohio State University, Columbus, the FMIG has two branches: one for first- and second-year students and one for third- and fourth-year students, said Ashlee Warren, a fourth-year medical student at OSU. The FMIG holds workshops on medical procedures early in the school year, and they are a good draw for students. Also, the first- and second-year students are officers and committee chairs for their branch of the FMIG. "The second-years teach the first-years," said Warren. "They don't need us third- and fourth-years."

Scott Rogers, also of OSU, said, "Studies tell us fostering people in their undergraduate years will create students interested in primary care and boost retention." With that in mind, the OSU FMIG members mentor undergraduate students one-on-one and hold meetings for them on topics such as organic chemistry, extracurricular or volunteer activities, stress management, and liability and insurance issues, according to Rogers.

At the University of California, Los Angeles, first-year medical students in the FMIG can pair with family physicians for longitudinal preceptorships, said Scott Nass of UCLA. The FMIG lines up volunteer FPs to precept during the school year and conduct summer mentorships.

At the University of Missouri, Columbia, "we like to foster a service mentality," said Wesley Trueblood of MU. The FMIG there gets medical students and local family physicians involved in a Habitat for Humanity project and activities such as raking leaves for shut-ins. Speakers for FMIG lectures have discussed ways to help patients get the medicines and tests they need, said Trueblood, and the Indian Health Service has sent an officer to address the FMIG.

For questions about building stronger FMIGs, contact the moderators for "FMIGs Make a Difference." The e-mail address for Amy McIntyre, of Cranston, R.I., is mcintyre@brown.edu, and Gerry Tolbert of Lexington, Ky., can be reached at gltolb2@uky.edu.