Chairman's
Message
Many of
you have heard the news: after years of encouragement by individual
family physicians, Tulane alumni, and our state and national
academies, Family Medicine has arrived at Tulane University
School of Medicine. The Department of Family and Community
Medicine became Tulane's newest clinical department in the Spring of 1998,
building on the base of the long-established program in Community
Medicine.
Our mission
as a Department continues as we provide educational and clinical
leadership in Primary Care within Tulane University Medical
Center and the community. The Department strives to be innovative, community-focused,
and collaborative - crossing traditional institutional and
disciplinary boundaries. Tulane will not become a school focused
on primary care, but Family Medicine's presence here helps
assure that every student, resident and faculty member has
basic professional skills and an appreciation for the primary
care physician.
Some of
our Departmental activities include:
- Education
of medical students through a required Family Medicine
clerkship, which started on a pilot basis in September 1998 and has continued as a required clerkship since 2000.
In addition, we have substantial contact with students
in the preclinical years, in teaching physical diagnosis
and Foundations of Medicine, and other electives. We teach and support programs of other generalist disciplines.
- Practicing
Family Medicine, including obstetrics and appropriate procedures
within the Tulane faculty practice network and Tulane Hospital.
The Hospital has established a clinical department of Family
Practice through which we will be credentialing FP's for
all privileges.
- Interdisciplinary
collaboration and scholarship in the study of medical
education, health services delivery, Family Medicine and
Preventive Medicine. The time for research in primary care
has come. We intend to be the leader for this within the
state. We want practicing FPs to have the opportunity to
help answer some of those burning questions that come up
every day in the office through a network of practices doing
collaborative research.
Many plans
for the Department are being formulated. We have started to
explore the possibility of Family Medicine residency training
within the greater New Orleans metropolitan area. Eventually, training sites
in inner city New Orleans also make sense in order to help
meet the needs of our community. I am also very pleased that
we have signed a letter of cooperation with the Family Medicine
Residency at the Baton Rouge General, expressing our intent
to look for opportunities of mutual benefit, such as medical
student teaching. The goal is to form additional alliances.
The Family
Medicine Interest Group and other student community service
projects are supported by an advisory system established in
Family and Community Medicine. The Department operates an
accredited Residency
in Preventive Medicine as well as the school's Transitional
Residency Program, both based in New Orleans. Discussion
has started about development of a training program in Occupational
Medicine. These programs and linkages between the Department
and Tulane's School of Public Health provide unique opportunities
for pursuit of dual board certification, study in areas of
Public Health or Health Administration, and scholarly undertakings.
To those
of you who over the years advocated for Tulane to make this
commitment to Family Medicine, let me express my thanks. Please feel
free to explore our web site, and don't hesitate to contact
the Department of Family and Community Medicine with any questions,
comments, or ideas.
Sincerely,
Dr. Richard Streiffer, MD
Professor and Chairman
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