About Family Medicine

What is Family Medicine?

Have you ever heard about a friendly doctor that carried his/her black bag around to make house calls?  Family Medicine fosters these old fashioned values.  Family Physicians (FPs) provide:

• Personal patient-physician relationships
• Comprehensive care
• Acute intervention
• Ambulatory medicine 
• Preventative/prophylactic medicine
• Chronic disease management
• End-of-life care

How long is FM training and what can I do?

Family Medicine residencies are three years long, just like Pediatrics and Internal Medicine.  Family Medicine residents have significant hospital and outpatient training, which prepares them for office and clinic duty in the "real world."

Typical sub-specialties of Family Medicine include:

• Academic Medicine
• Faculty Development
• Geriatrics
• Obstetrics
• Rural Medicine
• Sports Medicine

Numbers in Family Medicine

According to AAMC, the median level of debt of medical school graduates in the class of 2005 was $120,000, including undergraduate loans. The median level of debt of FM residency graduates in 2004 was $145,300, according to AAFP.

Demand for FPs  is expected to remain strong as the U.S. population grows and the need for medical care increases with the increasing prevalence of chronic disease.  The mean salary of family physicians in 2004 was $143,600.

About JABSOM

 John A. Burns School of Medicine, located on the waterfront of Honolulu, strongly encourages students to enter primary care fields.  The Problem-Based Learning curriculum lends itself well to the training of an FP, utilizing clinical problem solving and patient-centered issues as a method for learning medicine.

About FMIG

Family Medicine Interest Groups can be found throughout the country.

What does the JABSOM FMIG do?

We have monthly events featuring activities like:

• Workshops
  • Injections
  • Casting
  • Suturing 
• Public events
  
  • Waimanalo Health Center's Wellness Fair
  • Noelani Craft Fair
    
• Social events
  • Family Medicine get-togethers
    • Includes FM doctors, residents and students
  •  Next Step Shelter Halloween Fair
    
• Fundraisers
  • Car wash
  • Yard cleaning
    

What are the benefits of joining?

• Free subscription to the award winning American Family Physician bimonthly medical periodical
  
• FMIG members get first priority to sign up for workshops
• You can get our cool club shirt

• It is a great opportunity to hang out with friendly people!  :) 

Ooo, how can I join?

Send us an email at uhfmig@gmail.com if you are interested in being a part of our club and we will add you to our mailing list.   Check here for updates on our activities. It's that simple!

About the Officer Positions

FMIG is comprised of 7-8 officers who fulfill the roles of President, Vice-president, Secretary, Treasurer, Historian, Liaison and Tar Wars Coordinator(s).

The Vice-President is promoted to President the following year to ensure a smooth transition as students move into their clinical clerkships and beyond.