The Family Medicine Preceptorship Program is open for business
Hey Texas medical school students, have you been eagerly awaiting the open enrollment period of the Texas Statewide Family Medicine Preceptorship Program? Well wait no more. We are currently accepting applications, so tell your friends and sign up today.
Our preceptorship program offers medical students the chance to break out of the academic setting and see what medicine is really like when it’s practiced in the community. By spending two to four weeks with a practicing family doctor, they can experience the joy and fulfillment of a career caring for patients who are friends and neighbors. They find out that family medicine isn’t just about running on the hamster wheel and treating runny noses and sore throats all day.
Sure we have survey results that show when medical students complete rotations in the Family Medicine Preceptorship Program, they are more likely to choose a career in family medicine, but the family doctors who cherish the memory of their rotations tell the story better.
Travis Bias, DO, has been practicing family medicine in Austin for a few years now. When he entered medical school, family medicine wasn’t on his short list of desired specialties. He wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon, and like many of his fellow students, he was concerned about the mountain of debt he was piling up. He didn’t think he would earn enough in primary care to pay his educational debts and have the life he wanted.
Then he did a rotation with a family physician and his outlook changed completely. His preceptor had a well-run, business-savvy practice and he made a good living. Plus Bias saw the broad range of medicine he got to practice every day.
“It was the only reason I thought about family medicine.”
He went on to become co-chief resident during training at the Memorial Family Medicine Residency Program in Houston before becoming an excellent family doctor and a vocal advocate for the specialty. He’s exactly the kind of student the preceptorship program is there for, and since TAFP took over the program a few years back, it’s up to our members to make sure the program stays strong.
That’s why we’re thrilled to launch a brand new web tool for student applications as we open the 2015 enrollment period. Check it out at www.tafp.org/preceptorship. Students can create an account, set preferences and dates for their preceptorship, and choose up to five potential preceptors before submitting their application. Then they can log in later to check the status of their application and view the practice profiles of their chosen preceptors. After completing their rotation, they can use the same tool to fill out their evaluation form.
If you are a medical student or you know any, please share this information. And if you’re a family physician who has never been a preceptor, consider this opportunity to share your specialty with the next generation of Texas doctors. Want to learn more about becoming a preceptor? E-mail Juleah Williams at jwilliams@tafp.org.