In 2018, the VCU Department of Family Medicine and Population Health (DFMPH) was selected as a pilot site for a cooperative endeavor between the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) and the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM).  This jointly-sponsored Precepting Performance Improvement Project offered the opportunity to design and implement faculty development programs to enhance precepting skills that meet the ABFM’s Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Part IV (Improving Professional Practice and Quality Improvement) requirement.  Upon completion of the one-year pilot phase, VCU DFMPH received approval to continue offering faculty development through the initiative.

The DFMPH’s Precepting Enhancement Project (PEP) aims to provide free faculty development programs focusing on:

• incorporating medical student education into clinical practice
• enhancing precepting skills
• providing maintenance of certification credit
  
  

Our Department’s Precepting Enhancement Project (PEP) has developed over time to include in-person sessions, live virtual sessions, and asynchronous participation options.  PEP sessions are typically offered two times per year and are free to our community preceptors/affiliate faculty.

To receive MOC Part IV credit, PEP participants must be actively engaged in medical education (at least 180 1:1 contact teaching hours per 3-year certification cycle) and complete a pre-session self-assessment, the PEP session, and a post-session self-assessment.  Our team submits participation attestation information to ABFM; record of completion will be posted to the clinician’s ABFM portfolio.

Examples of topics covered to date include:

• Management time/efficiency
• Improving learner performance
• Creating a conducive and welcoming learning environment
• Observation students and providing meaningful feedback
• Demonstrating clinical teaching skills
• Using motivational interviewing
• Addressing student professionalism
• Managing medication in the clinical setting
• Teaching knee and shoulder exams
• Writing strong letters of recommendation/summative comments
• Teaching foot and ankle exams

Videos of previously-recorded PEP sessions are provided here for informational purposes only.  If you are interested in participating in a future session and receiving credit, check out our “upcoming opportunities” section.

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Questions?  Suggestions for future session topics? 

Contact Sharon Kaufer Flores: sharon.flores@vcuhealth.org