Diplomate Spotlight Opening Doors with Board Certification: A Conversation with Long Standing Diplomate Joseph Cook Read Opening Doors with Board Certification: A Conversation with Long Standing Diplomate Joseph Cook
Phoenix Newsletter - July 2025 Available Now: 2026 5-Year Cycle Registration Read Available Now: 2026 5-Year Cycle Registration
Home Research Research Library Examining the Functioning and Reliability of the Family Medicine Milestones Examining the Functioning and Reliability of the Family Medicine Milestones 2017 Author(s) Peabody, Michael R, O’Neill, Thomas R, and Peterson, Lars E Topic(s) Education & Training Keyword(s) Graduate Medical Education, and Psychometrics Volume Journal of Graduate Medical Education Source Journal of Graduate Medical Education BACKGROUND : The Family Medicine (FM) Milestones are a framework designed to assess development of residents in key dimensions of physician competency. Residency programs use the milestones in semiannual reviews of resident performance from entry toward graduation. OBJECTIVE : To examine the functioning and reliability of the FM Milestones and to determine whether they measure the amount of a latent trait (eg, knowledge or ability) possessed by a resident or simply indicate where a resident falls along the training sequence. METHODS : This study utilized the Rasch Partial Credit model to examine academic year 2014-2015 ratings for 10 563 residents from 476 residency programs (postgraduate year [PGY] 1 = 3639; PGY-2 = 3562; PGY-3 = 3351; PGY-4 = 11). RESULTS Reliability was exceptionally high at 0.99. Mean scores were 3.2 (SD = 1.3) for PGY-1; 5.0 (SD = 1.3) for PGY-2; 6.7 (SD = 1.2) for PGY-3; and 7.4 (SD = 1.0) for PGY-4. Keyform analysis showed a rating on 1 item was likely to be similar for all other items. CONCLUSIONS : Our findings suggest that FM Milestones seem to largely function as intended. Lack of spread in item difficulty and lack of variation in category probabilities show that FM Milestones do not measure the amount of a latent trait possessed by a resident, but rather describe where a resident falls along the training sequence. High reliability indicates residents are being rated in a stable manner as they progress through residency, and individual residents deviating from this rating structure warrant consideration by program leaders. Read More ABFM Research Read all 2008 Using county-level public health data to prioritize medical education topics Go to Using county-level public health data to prioritize medical education topics 2014 A Retrospective Analysis of the Relationship between Medical Student Debt and Primary Care Practice in the United States. Go to A Retrospective Analysis of the Relationship between Medical Student Debt and Primary Care Practice in the United States. 1992 1991 certification-recertification examinations Go to 1991 certification-recertification examinations 2017 Developing the National Family Medicine Graduate Survey Go to Developing the National Family Medicine Graduate Survey
Author(s) Peabody, Michael R, O’Neill, Thomas R, and Peterson, Lars E Topic(s) Education & Training Keyword(s) Graduate Medical Education, and Psychometrics Volume Journal of Graduate Medical Education Source Journal of Graduate Medical Education
ABFM Research Read all 2008 Using county-level public health data to prioritize medical education topics Go to Using county-level public health data to prioritize medical education topics 2014 A Retrospective Analysis of the Relationship between Medical Student Debt and Primary Care Practice in the United States. Go to A Retrospective Analysis of the Relationship between Medical Student Debt and Primary Care Practice in the United States. 1992 1991 certification-recertification examinations Go to 1991 certification-recertification examinations 2017 Developing the National Family Medicine Graduate Survey Go to Developing the National Family Medicine Graduate Survey
2008 Using county-level public health data to prioritize medical education topics Go to Using county-level public health data to prioritize medical education topics
2014 A Retrospective Analysis of the Relationship between Medical Student Debt and Primary Care Practice in the United States. Go to A Retrospective Analysis of the Relationship between Medical Student Debt and Primary Care Practice in the United States.
1992 1991 certification-recertification examinations Go to 1991 certification-recertification examinations
2017 Developing the National Family Medicine Graduate Survey Go to Developing the National Family Medicine Graduate Survey