Does Community- or University-Based Residency Sponsorship Affect Graduate Perceived Preparation or Performance?

Abstract

Background: Residency training occurs in varied settings. Whether there are differences in the training received by graduates of community- or medical school-based programs has been the subject of debate.

Objective: This study examined the perceived preparation for practice, scope of practice, and American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) board examination pass rates of family physicians in relation to the type of residency program (community, medical school, or partnership) in which they trained.

Methods: Predetermined survey responses were abstracted from the 2016 and 2017 National Family Medicine Graduate Survey of ABFM and linked to data about residency programs obtained from the websites of national organizations. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data and logistic regression to examine differences between survey results based on type of residency training: community, medical school, or partnership.

Results: Differences in the perception of preparation as well as current scope of practice were noted for the 3 residency types. The differences in perception were mainly noted in hospital-based skills, such as intubation and ventilator management, and in women's health and family planning services, with different program types increasing preparedness perception in different domains.

Conclusions: In general, graduates of family medicine community-based, non-affiliated, and partnership programs perceived they were prepared for and were providing more of the services queried in the survey than graduates of medical school-based programs.