Teaching Subcommittee

              #143
AMA FAMILY PRACTICE PROGRAM
(Adopted by AMA House of Delegates, June, 1959)
The proposed two-year program presented below should assure the opportunity for
adequate preparation of the future physician to provide medical care for all
members of the family. It should be emphasised that the proposed program is
conceived in its entirety as concerned with the preparation of physicians in
the future for family practice. It should not be Interpreted by hospitals or
other institutions or organizations as having import for the training or privileges of general pract
recommending a program for the family practice of medicine, the
committee believes that primary consideration should be given to an educational
experience enabling the physician to provide medical care for all members of
the family irrespective of age. After determining that the period beginning
at the time of receiving the M.O. degree is the most appropriate one for a new
plan of preparation for family practice, the committee agreed to concern itself with a minimal or basic program.  Since the program is designed to fulfill
a logical need, it Is reasonable to anticipate that state board regulations,
military obligations, and taff policies and privileges will be altered
recognise the merits o     program.
RELATIONSHIP TO THE EXISTING INTERNSHIP.  The internship year as presently constituted cannot be considered as a component of this program for it would result in dividing it into two separate segments. The internship was designed
many years ago to provide the initial contact with and responsibility for
patients. Since the development of the medical school clinical clerkship, the
Internship no longer comprises such initial patient contact but rather it is
now considered as one of several graded steps toward the assumption of total
responsibility for patient care. Further, there is now general agreement that
the one-year internship alone is inadequate as preparation for the practice of
medicine.
The present values of the internship will ha an inherent part of the proposed
program, but cannot be separated out of it as a segment without weakening the
greater values to be derived from dealing with the new program aa a unified
whole. The graduate program proposed as preparation for family practice la
designed to be more comprehensive then the internship in regard to petient responsibility, educational content, and continuity of experience.
Minimal Requirements
:he Basic Program
Under the existing circumstances, the committee believes thet a period of
at least two years of formal hospital training following attainment of the
medical degree is necessary in preparation for the family practice of medicine. However, time alone cannot serve as a valid measure of educational
adequacy. The two-year period would be minimal even where the other factors
of educational quality and content are optimal.