@article{10.22454/FamMed.2026.450511,
author = {Brown, Brandon D. and Fleischer, Sarah and Mims, Lisa D. and DeCastro, Alec and Barr, Wendy B.},
title = {Residency Features Linked to Family Medicine Graduates’ Inpatient and Critical Care Practice: An Outcomes Project Study},
journal = {Family Medicine},
volume = {0},
number = {0},
year = {1},
month = {1},
doi = {10.22454/FamMed.2026.450511},
abstract = {Background and Objectives: Family medicine residency programs equip graduates for diverse practice environments, including inpatient and critical care medicine. Understanding how residency program characteristics correlate with graduates’ hospital-based practice is crucial for workforce development. Our objective was to evaluate the correlation between residency program structures and curriculum with graduates caring for adult patients in hospital and critical care settings.
Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study of family medicine graduates using the 2018 Council of Academic Family Medicine Educational Research Alliance program director survey to measure program characteristics and curricular elements and the 2021 Family Medicine National Graduate Survey of residents who graduated in 2018 to measure the primary outcomes—practicing adult inpatient medicine and critical care medicine.
Results: Of 752 respondents, 37.5% reported practicing inpatient medicine and 19.1% providing critical care. Multivariate analysis revealed metropolitan practice location (OR 0.53; 95% CI 0.33–0.85) and presence of an internal medicine program (OR 0.41; 95% CI 0.26–0.66) were associated with lower odds of practicing inpatient medicine. Nine or more months of inpatient medicine during residency was associated with higher odds of both inpatient (OR 1.59; 95% CI 1.10–2.29) and critical care practice (OR 1.92; 95% CI 1.23–3.02). For critical care practice, metropolitan location and having only family medicine attendings were associated with lower odds, while being from a single residency institution showed higher odds.
Conclusions: Duration of inpatient medicine exposure and training environment are significantly associated with graduates practicing inpatient and critical care medicine. These findings can guide residency program design to meet workforce needs.},
URL = {https://journals.stfm.org//familymedicine/online-first/brown-0382/},
eprint = {https://journals.stfm.org//media/isshpxjb/fammed-2025-0382.pdf},
}