Because many residents want to attain focused expertise in a specific discipline during their residency training, the UPMC St. Margaret Family Medicine Residency has developed Areas of Concentration (AOC). There is an exciting selection of AOC disciplines listed below, and some residents may create a new AOC with faculty mentorship. Each AOC requires an elective time commitment, a longitudinal project, a scholarly presentation, and CME attendance. Residents completing an AOC program receive a Certificate of Recognition at graduation.
The following are the requirements to be met for resident completion of an AOC:
Declaration
The AOC should be selected by the end of the PGY2 training year. Prior to AOC declaration, the resident must meet with the program director and their faculty advisor to discuss the AOC. At the time of declaration, residents must be in good academic standing including performing at the expected level of competency in order to be eligible for AOC participation.
Sponsorship
The resident must have an AOC faculty sponsor. Often a specific discipline (e.g.- geriatrics) will have a designated faculty sponsor. Meetings with the sponsor should occur at least three times per year.
Elective Time
A minimum of 8 weeks of elective time will be spent in the AOC, with all experiences pre-approved by the faculty sponsor. The additional training should be sufficient to achieve and demonstrate the desired competencies in the AOC.
CME Attendance
One academic conference in the AOC must be attended during residency, with the pre-approval of the faculty sponsor. The resident will be expected to disseminate clinically useful, evidence-based information to resident and faculty colleagues. Funding for conference attendance will come from the resident’s CME budget, and time to travel must come from time already allocated for CME.
Scholarly Presentation
Separate from the required senior presentation, there must be a scholarly presentation in the AOC. The resident will be strongly encouraged to have such a presentation made at the county, state, regional, or national level. A copy of the presentation will be available for the resident’s permanent file.
Critical Appraisal
The resident will present a critical appraisal of an article in the AOC. Such presentations can be made in the journal club or at UPMC St. Margaret MDM rounds.
Competency Based
A proposal of academic study and clinical activity, designed by the resident with faculty input, should be completed with the inclusion of competency-based goals and objectives. The proposal will outline the additional competencies that have been achieved.
Summary Letter
A letter summarizing the AOC completion, written by the faculty sponsor or residency director, will be placed in the resident’s file at the completion of training.
Current Areas of Concentration are available in the following subjects (tracks):
- Sports Medicine
- Geriatric Medicine
- International Health
- Academic Leadership
- OB/Women’s Health
- Behavioral Health
- Hospitalist Medicine
- Addiction Medicine
- Lifestyle Medicine
- POCUS Curriculum