What is FMEC doing to advance Residency Learning Networks?
What is FMEC doing to advance Residency Learning Networks?
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In 2025, the FMEC launched a new initiative, FMEC Learning Networks: Collaborating to Accelerate Innovations, with funding from the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) Foundation.
This initiative will connect the FMEC’s work, previously referred to as learning communities or collaboratives, to new ACGME guidelines, and stress FMEC’s historical role in promoting innovative practice and education.
The goal of FMEC Learning Networks: Collaborating to Accelerate Innovations is to support family medicine residencies (FMRs) in the northeast U.S. to achieve excellence in academic medicine, clinical practice, and administrative operations through shared learning experiences that lead to increased capacity and innovation.
Specifically, from 2025 to 2027, the FMEC leadership will:
Identify priority issues among family medicine residency programs (FMRs) in the FMEC region to develop a 3-5 year plan for development of learning network opportunities;
Support at least 20 FMRs annually to participate in discrete clinical, operational, and GME-focused learning networks;
Identify and support faculty, particularly young faculty and those at emerging FMRs, to develop learning network expertise and leadership skills through participation in FMEC’s programs; and
Regularly produce papers and presentations which share FMEC’s successes and challenges, as well as the specific outcomes of individual collaboratives, with the broader family medicine field.
How will FMEC measure impact?
How will FMEC measure impact?
As part of our process evaluation of each learning network project, we will track data such as meetings held, communications sent and engagement with those communications, and number of individuals involved. We will review if the activities were implemented as planned and identify factors that led to success or failure. We will be seeking growth in the number of programs and individuals involved as well as seeking engagement of new programs and individuals.
The FMEC will also assess knowledge and systems change for participants. This will include measuring the impact of CME sessions including knowledge gained and intent to change, increase in empathy, improved patient-provider communication, and clinical improvements such as implementation of risk assessments and other tools, development of patient education and referral protocols, and more.
Graduate medical education (GME) measures will be incorporated into each project, to help residency program leaders assess residents for skills, knowledge, and behaviors in the six Core Competency domains. Each project will be structured to include opportunities for residents to demonstrate proficiency and for faculty to observe them. Projects will help learners increase their exposure to a diversity of residents, faculty, patients, and communities; demonstrate and apply medical knowledge (MK); advance professionalism (P) by demonstrating sensitivity and responsiveness to a diversity of patients; and enhance practice-based learning and improvement (PBLI) through understanding of quality improvement (QI) methods and implementation of practice improvement changes.
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