In 1995, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) established the National Family Medicine Interest Group (FMIG) Network as a way of improving communication between FMIGs around the country.  CAFP has since been supporting the California's FMIGs with funds, resources, and important tools to help:

• Increase awareness and interest in family medicine;
• Educate medical students on the varied opportunities for family physicians and the scope of family medicine;
• Develop medical students' leadership skills;
• Facilitate interaction of medical students across California campuses; and
• Distribute timely and accurate information about family medicine.

This page provides helpful tools and resources to FMIGs, predoctoral coordinators, FMIG advisors, and student representatives.

For more information on California FMIGs visit AAFP's Virtual FMIG - an online resource for all your FMIG needs.

 FMIG Support Program: 2011-2012 Guidelines and Procedures

Funding Administration

• Funds run on an academic calendar (August 1 - July 31).
• Funds do not carry over from one year to the next.
• Funds are administered by CAFP.

Funding Eligibility

• Each FMIG is eligible for up to $1,000 for the academic year.
  - $400 is provided by the CAFP Foundation (CAFP-F).
  - $600 is provided by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).
• In order to be eligible for CAFP funding, you must submit the name and contact information of a designated CAFP student liaison with your first reimbursement request using this reimbursement form.  The first reimbursement request has an allocated space for this contact information.  Once submitted, CAFP will send you a regular reimbursement form to be used for subsequent requests.
• In order to be eligible for AAFP's funding, you must follow AAFP guidelines.  To be eligible for the grant, you must complete each step of the application process.  *Please be aware that CAFP must sign and approve your application.

Use of Funds

• Funds are to be used for the benefit of the majority of students.
• Activities must be related to family medicine.
• Examples of appropriate use of funds include: food, non-alcoholic beverages, program publicity and promotion, supplies for workshops and unique programs (e.g., emergency kits, suturing supplies, etc.), a small raffle to encourage students to register for a CAFP event or for membership, speaker honoraria/travel expenses, and webinar/teleconference/event registration fees.
• When in doubt about whether or not a specific expense is appropriate, please contact CAFP ahead of time for expense approval and/or guidance.
• For materials used throughout the year (rather than for one specific event), you must order and/or purchase these items at the beginning of the academic year and submit a list to CAFP, detailing the events and activities where these materials will be used.  We suggest that a limited percentage of your total allocation be used for this purpose.

Expense Reimbursement

• Requests for reimbursement should be submitted to CAFP within three weeks of each event.
• You must use CAFP's reimbursement form for every reimbursement request.
• Each request must be complete, including specific information about the number of attendees, speaker names, and topics addressed.
• Please attempt to attach actual receipts (not photocopies) with your request. We request that you do not fax requests or receipts as they are often not legible.

Planning Events

• We encourage you to plan events around CAFP and AAFP functions (e.g., CAFP's Family Medicine Conference for Medical Students, CAFP's Preceptorship Program, the AAFP National Conference, CAFP's Externship Program, scholarship and leadership opportunities, and CAFP's Annual Scientific Assembly).
• Multiple meetings are encouraged instead of one large annual function.

FMIG Leadership: 2011-2012 CAFP Role Recommendations

One way Program of Excellence (PoE) Award winners successfully coordinate their FMIGs is to assign or elect members to positions of responsibility or leadership.  CAFP has researched and identified key roles and responsibilities consistent across many FMIGs.  Our recommendations are below:

President:
Primary FMIG activity oversight
Organizes and facilitates events/meetings
Organizes student travel to conferences
Oversees promotion of FMIG activities

Vice-President:
Assists the president in FMIG activity oversight
Facilitates FMIG activities
Promotes FMIG events and activities
Primary liaison between FMIG and external audiences and organizations

Treasurer:
Oversees FMIG funding
Coordinates FMIG budget and tracks expenses
Coordinates FMIG reimbursement requests
Oversees funding projects

First-Year Representative:
Coordinates FMIG activities for first-year medical students
Serves as the liaison between the first-year class and the FMIG
Makes class announcements about FMIG events
Assists the predoctoral coordinator with coordinating CAFP Preceptorship Program

Second-Year Representative:
Coordinates FMIG activities for second-year medical students
Serves as the liaison between the second-year class and the FMIG
Makes class announcements about FMIG events

Membership Chair/Membership Coordinator:*
Coordinates recruitment of new CAFP members
Coordinates recruitment/retention of FMIG leaders/officers
*Note: Students who are AAFP members can sign up to be the designated Student Membership Coordinator for their medical school.  In doing so, your FMIG will receive numerous materials from the AAFP and earn incentives for increasing AAFP student membership.  Both the membership coordinator and the FMIG earn incentives.

In addition to the above duties, all FMIG officers should attend regular officer meetings and scheduled FMIG events.

In an effort to better connect with each FMIG and work together to promote family medicine, CAFP has created a student liaison position.  Each year, FMIGs will be required to designate a student representative who will then serve as your school's representative on the CAFP liaison committee.

The CAFP student liaison responsibilities within the committee are as follows:

• Participate in 2-3 committee conference calls per year with CAFP;
• Coordinate FMIG reimbursement requests and submissions**;
• Serve as CAFP's primary FMIG contact for your school; and
• Keep track of all upcoming events and opportunities with CAFP.

**Note: We found that many schools prefer to designate their FMIG's treasurer as the CAFP student liaison.  This role applies only if this is the case in your FMIG.

Your FMIG may designate an officer to be the student liaison, add this responsibility to an existing position, or develop another way of recruiting and designating the CAFP student liaison you think will work well for you and your FMIG.

Incentives for FMIGs:

25 new AAFP student applications - $25
50 new AAFP student applications - $50
75 new AAFP student applications - $75
100 new AAFP student applications - $100
150 new AAFP student applications - $150

Each time the FMIG earns an incentive, the Student Membership Coordinator chooses to receive a $20 gift card to Amazon.com, iTunes, or Starbucks.  More information is available here (AAFP members only), or you can email Julie Herzog for more information.

Reaching out to Residents

There are 37 family medicine residency programs in California; several are likely in the vicinity of your campus.  In an effort to increase communication and develop a relationship between your FMIG and local residency program(s), we encourage you to reach out to and collaborate with the program faculty, staff, and residents.

There are several ways for residents to get involved:

• Schedule a panel discussion with recently matched interns
• Plan a resident and student mixer
• Go onsite to the residency program and plan an event there
• Pair resident mentors with students

To assist you in reaching in your efforts, we created a template you can use when emailing the residents:

Dear Family Medicine Residents,

My name is [name] and I'm writing on behalf of [school name] Family Medicine Interest Group (FMIG).  As you probably know, we're a medical student-run campus organization, supported by the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation and the California Academy of Family Physicians Foundation.  Throughout the year, we coordinate various events and activities to expose medical students to the scope and nature of family medicine.

In an effort to promote the specialty, we're reaching out to you and your residency program to explore a possible collaboration.  We find that students' interest in family medicine increases significantly when they are given the opportunity to meet and interact with family medicine residents and family physicians in their community.  We get a first-hand glimpse into the diversity of family medicine as well as the rewards of being a family physician.

[Insert information on how you want the residents to get involved.  If you are contacting them about a specific event you would want them to be a part of, include event logistics and details on the time commitment.]

We hope you consider becoming involved with our FMIG.  I know our students would look forward to the opportunity to learn more about your personal experience as a family medicine resident as well as understanding more about the specialty of family medicine.  I'm confident the students will greatly appreciate your time.

[Insert contact information.]

Thank you for considering our invitation.

Best regards,

[Name]