A Title VII grant will enable the Department of Family Medicine to develop and implement a formal curriculum and experiential learning process to train medical residents in evidence-based quality improvement (QI) of primary care, with an emphasis on underserved rural areas. The three-year grant of $626,473 will provide $234,781 during the project’s first year.

The project goal is to enhance the effectiveness of training in primary care at the residency level by designing a formal Evidence-Based Quality Improvement Curriculum. The new curriculum will provide family medicine residents with clinical and didactic experiences to prepare them to utilize the QI process in their medical practices.

During the three-year grant period, faculty in the Department of Family Medicine, other ETSU faculty, and local and regional consultants will:

• Train residents to use an established QI process to compare patient data with national standards for the most common medical conditions in family medicine.

• Provide didactic sessions and seminars to introduce residents to health literacy, cultural competency, and health disparities in rural Appalachia.

• Assist groups of residents in designing experiential QI projects that include conducting a performance assessment, implementing an action plan for quality improvement of primary care, and evaluating the effectiveness of the QI intervention.

• Train residents to present data to colleagues and the professional community and to disseminate their findings through presentations and publication in professional journals.

The Evidence-Based Quality Improvement Curriculum will be available on the Department of Family Medicine Web site. The curriculum will also be disseminated at meetings of national and regional organizations, allowing other residency program directors to design similar programs and incorporate the curricular aspects of the QI project beyond our institution.

Professor of Family Medicine and Director of Primary Care Research Fred Tudiver, M.D. will serve as Principal Investigator for this project. Dr. Tudiver also serves as Executive Director of the International Center for Evidence-Based Medicine, which provides training for healthcare providers and educators.

The 2009 edition of U.S. News & World Report rated the James H. Quillen College of Medicine fourth in the nation for excellence in preparing physicians who will practice in rural medical settings. The ETSU Department of Family Medicine ranked twelfth in the nation for excellence in family medicine training.