The Undifferentiated Medical Student

Your virtual mentor for choosing a medical specialty and planning a career in medicine

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Ep 016 – Family Medicine with Dr. Steve Brown

Dr. Brown is Program Director and Professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix Family Medicine Residency in Phoenix, Arizona.

Dr. Brown completed his undergraduate degree at Stanford University in 1994; completed his medical degree at Albany Medical College in 1998; then completed a family medicine residency at the University of California, San Francisco at San Francisco General Hospital in 2001. Following the completion of his residency Dr. Brown worked for four years with the Indian Health Service with the rural White Mountain Apache Tribe in Northern Arizona. In this role as a Commissioned Officer with the Public Health Service, Dr. Brown was a full-spectrum family physician delivering babies, providing emergency care, and inpatient and outpatient care of adults and children. Dr. Brown joined the family medicine teaching faculty at Banner University Medical Center-Phoenix, in 2005, where he continues to practice and teach full-spectrum family medicine. He also works closely with medical students at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix, where he was recognized as Clinical Sciences Educator of the Year in 2010. He then become residency program director in 2011.

Dr. Brown’s scholarly interests include care of the rural and urban underserved, high value care, pharma influence, and physician well-being. He has served as chair of the American Academy of Family Physicians Commission of the Health of the Public and Science and on subcommittees for Clinical Preventive Services and Clinical Practice Guidelines. He is an Associate Editor for Essential Evidence and a board member of the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors.

Finally, Dr. Brown is editor and co-founder of the American Family Physician Podcast (on iTunes and at aafp.org/afppodcast) which he co-hosts with third years residents in his program. The podcast, which summarizes clinical topics and practice-changing evidence, is regularly a Top 10 medical podcast on iTunes with over 25,000 downloads per month.

Please enjoy with Dr. Steve Brown!

Selected Show Notes

The 5 C’s of Family Medicine

  • Comprehensive
  • Continuous
  • Coordinated
  • First Contact
  • In the context of family and community

Kerr White, 1961 paper: For every month and for every 1000 people, 250 will visit their doctor for an outpatient visit, 9 will go to the hospital, and 1 will be admitted. Point being: most of medicine happens in the outpatient, primary care setting, which is right in family medicine’s wheelhouse.

‘Primary care is the miracle of modern medicine’ – Dr. Brown.

The idea of generalism as an area of expertise.

CAQ: Certificate of Added Qualification, which is an officially board-certified fellowship.

Here are the sub-specialties that the Careers in Medicine website says are sub-specialties of family medicine.

  • Medical toxicology, addiction medicine, and maternal child health (all of which Dr. Brown said were fellowship options for FM docs) are not among them. Not sure what the CIM’s major malfunction is.

The Information Mastery Movement.

POEM (Patient-Oriented Evidence that Matters).

Essential Evidence and Dynamed.

  • Both really good for ambulatory issues, generalist issues, bread and butter primary care.

American Family Physician journal.

Family Medicine Interest Group network.

Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students National Conference (one every year).

ZDoggMD.

Go on twitter and find the community dedicated to a specialty you’re considering, and see what they’re talking about.

Strolling through the Match.

Kleinmans 8 questions of cultural competency.

Book:

For a list of all book recommendations made on the show, see the TUMS Resources page.

Dr. Brown would like you to go look at the Choosing Wisely.

AFP Podcast.

Twitter.