The PCMH Year That Was and the One Ahead

So we've come to the end of another academic year.

New interns have arrived for orientation, with that combination of unbridled enthusiasm and deer-in-the-headlights panic we all remember so well.

Senior residents are wrapping up their lives in residency, preparing to move on to become fellows, hospitalists, or practicing physicians in the community.

And our junior residents have completed their first year of a new quality improvement curriculum, and the eight patient-centered medical home (PCMH) practice improvement projects have been brought to fruition.

We laughed. We cried. We PowerPointed.

All residents got some learning, got a little taste of research, and discovered a lot about how hard it is to create and carry out a research project. Some of the projects had fatal flaws, but there is something to be learned from that. Some of the projects actually resulted in significant findings -- their interventions showed the effects they were looking for, and we have some powerful ideas on the table to continue the transformation of our practice.

Maybe it's just me (looking at the world through PCMH-colored glasses), but the residents and other team members that participated in these projects seem to have more of a positive attitude about the practice of medicine, about functioning in a patient-centered medical home, since their involvement with these projects. The registrars seem more engaged with the residents, and vice versa. Our nurses and care coordinators are rising to multiple challenges, and I foresee even more engagement and idea-generation coming from them all as we move ahead.