Jones Betsy Goebel, Cook Ronald C, Morales Felix, Hobart Keeley, Berk Steven L
Department of Medical Education, Family Medicine Accelerated Track, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX, USA.
FMAT Program Steering Committee, School of Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX, USA.
Med Educ Online. 2025 Dec;30(1):2457783. doi: 10.1080/10872981.2025.2457783. Epub 2025 Jan 24.
Texas is one of the states with the lowest access to usual sources of primary care; most critically, family medicine (FM) has been projected to have the greatest physician shortage increase between 2018 and 2032. Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) School of Medicine developed the Family Medicine Accelerated Track (FMAT), a 3-year curriculum that culminates in the MD degree and links medical students to FM residency programs at TTUHSC campuses in Lubbock, Amarillo or the Permian Basin. This article reflects on 10 years of experience with the program, and particularly its impact on the primary care physician workforce in Texas.
TTUHSC medical students in the traditional curriculum complete the Phase 1 pre-clinical curriculum in Lubbock and are distributed for Phases 2 and 3 (MS3/MS4 years) among campuses in Lubbock, Amarillo and the Permian Basin. Similarly, FMAT students complete Phase 1 in Lubbock. For Phase 2 clinical clerkships, their curriculum is delivered on the campus (which may include Lubbock) where they will typically complete 3 years of FM residency training.
In the 2 years prior to the graduation of the first FMAT class, just over 11% of the graduating class matched into FM. In the decade since, the numbers have varied from year to year (often as high as 17-19% of the class matching into FM) but have always exceeded the pre-FMAT numbers. For the classes 2013 through 2023, 115 students began FMAT training; 90 of them (78%) graduated in 3 years with the MD degree and began FM residency training. Of those 90, 56 have now graduated from residency and taken positions in the primary care physician workforce. Of that group, 86% are practicing in Texas, 64% are in West Texas, and 69% are in rural or underserved communities.
得克萨斯州是获得常规初级保健服务资源最少的州之一；最关键的是，预计2018年至2032年间家庭医学（FM）领域的医生短缺增幅最大。得克萨斯理工大学健康科学中心（TTUHSC）医学院开发了家庭医学加速课程（FMAT），这是一个为期3年的课程，最终授予医学博士学位，并将医学生与位于拉伯克、阿马里洛或二叠纪盆地的TTUHSC校区的家庭医学住院医师项目联系起来。本文回顾了该项目10年的经验，特别是其对得克萨斯州初级保健医生队伍的影响。
传统课程的TTUHSC医学生在拉伯克完成第一阶段的临床前课程，并在拉伯克、阿马里洛和二叠纪盆地的校区进行第二阶段和第三阶段（医学三年级/医学四年级）的学习。同样，FMAT学生在拉伯克完成第一阶段的学习。对于第二阶段的临床实习，他们的课程在他们通常将完成3年家庭医学住院医师培训的校区（可能包括拉伯克）进行。
在第一届FMAT班级毕业前的两年里，略超过11%的毕业班学生匹配到了家庭医学领域。在此后的十年里，每年的数字有所不同（经常高达班级人数的17%-19%匹配到家庭医学领域），但始终超过FMAT项目实施前的数字。对于2013年至2023年的班级，115名学生开始了FMAT培训；其中90人（78%）在3年内毕业并获得医学博士学位，开始进行家庭医学住院医师培训。在这90人中，56人现已完成住院医师培训并在初级保健医生队伍中任职。在这一组中，86%在得克萨斯州执业，64%在西德克萨斯州，69%在农村或服务不足的社区。
