Promote this Issue
In this issue of Family Medicine, Dr Randall Longenecker reflects on the nature of physician competence, arguing that true competence integrates skills with character traits like integrity, adaptability, and resilience. Especially in rural settings with dual relationships, competent family physicians must maintain clear boundaries and engage in lifelong reflection, self-assessment, and moral development to maintain competence beyond technical proficiency.
March 2026 Vol. 58 No. 3
GUEST EDITORIAL
Assessing and Sustaining Competence in Rural Practice
Randall Longenecker, MD
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
FEAR: Faculty Evaluation and Retaliation—A Survey of Family Medicine Program Directors
J. Lane Wilson, MD | Kevin Gray, MD, MBA, CAQ-SM | Carlie Nikel, PsyD | Jennifer Quaintance, PhD | Katherine T. Fortenberry, PhD
Hepatitis C Treatment by Early-Career US Family Physicians
Michael Topmiller, PhD | Lars E. Peterson, MD, PhD | Mark A. Carrozza, MA | Aaron T. Vissman, PhD | Adam Visconti, MD, MPH | Andrew W. Bazemore, MD, MPH
HEART-IM: A Fourth-Year Humanistic Elective for Improving Medical Education
Allison Hecht, DO | Adriana Herrera, MD | Sachi Desai, DO | Michelle L. Dossett, MD, PhD, MPH | Anthony N. Fleg, MD, MPH
Training Needs for Rural Primary Care Practice: A Scoping Review of Resident Physician Preparation
David F. Schmitz, MD | Annie Koempel, PhD, RD | Campbell Cook | Andrew W. Bazemore, MD
Prioritizing Research Metrics in Family Medicine: A CERA Study of Department Chairs
Stephen K. Stacey, DO | Khyati Patel, MBBS | Bennett Harmelink, DO | John Merfeld, MD | Dean A. Seehusen, MD, MPH
BRIEF REPORTS
An Innovative Model of Delivering Resident Didactics in Two Family Medicine Residency Programs
Laura Haagenson DiPaolo, MD | Jennifer Moranda, MD | Amanda Mooneyham, MD | Elizabeth Evangelista, MD | Patricia A. Carney, PhD, MS
The Primary Care Exception During and After a Public Health Emergency
Stephen Fuest, MD | Peter J. McDonnell, MD | Nickole Forget, MD
NARRATIVE ESSAYS
Hidden Curriculum in Silence
Vangipuram Harshil Sai
The Symphony of the Hospital Corridor
Jiaxuan Tan, MM | Hongmei Shen
The Silent Grief in Residency
Kelly McGuigan, MD, MS
January
Magnolia Larson, DO
The Weight That Grounds Me
Martina Mookadam, MD
In the Arena: A Narrative of Grit, Resilience, and Becoming
Crystal Marquez, MD
BOOK AND MEDIA REVIEWS
“Loving Someone With a Mental Illness or History of Trauma”; and “I’m Not Alone: A Teen’s Guide to Living With a Parent Who Has a Mental Illness or History of Trauma”
Jaime Mendoza, PsyD | Manuela Zamora, MD
The Product of Medicine: How Efficiency Made American Health Care
Eric Persaud, DrPH
A Thing or Two: Nonno’s Book of Stuff He’s Learned
Elizabeth C. Halloran, PhD
Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection
Justin C. Cordova, MD | Kathryn M. Eliasen, MD
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
From Monolith to Mosaic: Rethinking Mentorship for Asian Faculty
Michelle Ikoma, MD, MPH
Response to “The Primary Care Workforce Is Transitioning Away From a Physician-Dominated Model”
Joseph W. Gravel Jr., MD | Wendy B. Barr, MD, MPH, MSCE | Grant S. Hoekzema, MD | Jay Fetter, MSHA | Alan B. Douglass, MD
Precepting Dissonance: Reconciling Expectations in Graduate Medical Education
Maria Montanez Villacampa, MD | Stacy Ogbeide, PsyD, ABPP | Yajaira Johnson-Esparza, PhD
FAMILY MEDICINE FOCUS
A Case for Increasing Race Discordant Mentorship for Faculty Who Are Underrepresented in Medicine
Brittany Houston, PsyD | Kathryn Fraser, PhD
Using DISC Personality Assessments in Medical Education
Bryce A. Ringwald, MD | Stephen Auciello, MD | Jennifer L. Middleton, MD, MPH | Stephen Auciello, MD
PRESIDENT'S COLUMN
The Power of Enough
Steven Lin, MD
