Advanced procedural training in family medicine: a group consensus statement.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Family medicine does not have a defined scope of procedures or universal standards for procedural training. This contributes to wide variation in family physician training and difficulties obtaining hospital privileges for advanced procedures. The Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) Group on Hospital Medicine and Procedural Training previously developed a list of core procedures to be taught in all family medicine residencies. The group reconvened to develop a consensus list of advanced procedures within the scope of family medicine. METHODS Working from a master list of procedures, the group, which consisted of 21 family medicine educators, used a multi-voting process to identify advanced procedures within the scope of family medicine. RESULTS The group generated a list of 36 advanced procedures and added nine procedures to the previously created list of core procedures. CONCLUSIONS The STFM Group on Hospital Medicine and Procedural Training proposes a list of advanced procedures within the scope of family medicine and urges family medicine governing bodies to use this list to define and standardize the scope of procedural training and practice in family medicine.