Practice Resources

 
The Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians is committed to providing Minnesota family physicians with resources to assist in addressing burnout and collaborating with our members to advocate for change on behalf of family medicine.
Have a physician well-being resource you want to share or want to join our work advocating to address issues causing burnout at a legislative or administrative level? Contact us.
 

The Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians (MAFP) aims to support family physicians, resident physicians and medical students across Minnesota in bridging gaps in patient care, promoting health equity and addressing racism.

The resources/tools linked from this page are a starting point for exploring health equity topics inside and outside of clinic walls.

An MAFP goal is to promote health equity and anti-racism throughout all levels of the organization. One way that is achieved is through implementing an equity lens. View and download the Equity Lens Tool, developed by the MAFP Health Equity Committee.

This tool will help MAFP staff, leadership, volunteers and members evaluate internal and external policies and decisions to ensure that they are working towards equity. Help us know what is and isn’t helpful with this tool.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also offers online resources for Using a Health Equity Lens.

The EveryONE Project by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) offers Implicit Bias Training, educating physicians and their practice teams on the impact of unconscious bias and offers resources to help reduce its negative effects on patients.

The MAFP received a grant from the AAFP to adapt this training. A workgroup of faculty from the Health Equity Committee developed the training to assist clinicians in working to mitigate their own biases, as well as to think about how racism and other systemic barriers impact patients and how individuals can help in addressing them.

Implicit bias training is available for members and their clinical teams.

Interested in bringing a training to your clinic/site? Contact us and/or visit the AAFP’s Implicit Bias Resources page to find facilitator and participant guides, training presentations and more.

A list of health equity resources, separated by topic (and from a variety of sources/channels), follows. Please note: This list is not exhaustive.

At the 2018 MAFP House of Delegates, a resolution titled “Health Equity” was adopted. The resolution authors emphasized the role that family physicians play in providing care for Minnesota’s diverse communities and combating inequitable health outcomes. The resolution led to the forming of the Health Equity Task Force, which evolved into a full standing committee in 2021.

The Health Equity Committee’s purpose is to bring the health equity lens to the leadership, work and members of the MAFP. The committee ensures family physicians are working towards equitable health care for their patients and communities.

Convening ideas and principles include:

  • Ensure equity is centered in all MAFP policies, education and training.
  • Support more persons of color (and other underrepresented groups) in active membership and leadership of the MAFP.
  • Add the family physician voice—and raise up voices from the community—to the public discussion of how to promote health equity in our clinical practices, institutions and communities through appropriate collaborations and coalitions.

CME speaker guidelines (developed by the Committee):

  • Avoid heteronormativity.
  • Use patient-/person-/community-/culture-centered language.
  • Avoid using race as a proxy for biology or genetics; instead use the experience of racism when describing risk factors for disease.
  • Highlight the impact(s) of systems/structures, when possible, to avoid blaming victims.
 

Family physicians play an important role in access to maternity care, especially in underserved areas. Yet, recent survey data has shown that only 6.7% of practicing family doctors are performing deliveries.

We regularly hear from family physicians from across Minnesota about both the challenges and opportunities around providing obstetrical (OB) care, including the credentialing process and the need for expanded OB skills training.

A list of articles and resources to support family physicians in providing OB care follow.

Our colleagues at the California Academy of Family Physicians generously gave us permission to adapt and share their credentialing and privileging self-advocacy guide (with the following links to articles and resources), so family physicians can advocate to be able to provide obstetrical care in their practices.

AAFP Resources on Credentialing & Privileging:

MAFP Resources on Credentialing & Privileging:

  • Letter of Support
    A resource letter for MAFP members to use with system administrators when seeking credentialing to provide obstetric care. Contact us if you would like the letter edited and/or directed to a specific contact.
Research Studies on Family Medicine Obstetrics:

Know other resources that may help? Contact us.

In 2022, the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians created a Family Medicine OB Workgroup.

Among its goals, the workgroup aims to help medical students and family medicine residents see the possibilities for OB care in their future practices as well as to advocate for the support family physicians need to be able to practice OB.

Want to get involved in the MAFP’s advocacy efforts around family medicine OB? Contact us.

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