Family Medicine Digital Resources Library
Nancy L. Davis, PhD
Director, Division of Continuing Medical Education
American Academy of Family Physicians
Introduction
In late 2004, the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) was awarded a 3-year grant by the National Library of Medicine to develop the Family Medicine Digital Resources Library (FMDRL).
The vision for FMDRL, located at http://www.fmdrl.org, is to be the primary mechanism used by family medicine educators to share curricular materials—resulting in efficient, effective dissemination of curricular materials nationally and internationally. Efforts will be made to build and maintain a critical mass of content.
FMDRL will include the following materials:
- Conference presentations/handouts
- PowerPoint lectures
- Learning modules for all levels of learners
- Digital images, audio and video files
- Standardized patient cases
- Recommended websites and PDA programs
- Other curricular materials
- FMDRL will have the following features:
Opportunity for STFM Group reviewers and involvement.
- Content for all levels of family medicine education.
- Works-in-Progress section.
- Expert Peer Review – Materials will be peer reviewed and archived with user-friendly search functionality.
- Editorial and administrative oversight for FMDRL will be provided by a steering committee of educators, informaticists, researchers, and librarians.
- Developed with an open standards-based infrastructure, permitting interaction with other digital libraries, such as the Health Education Assets Library.
The following people belong to the Steering Committee:
- Jacob Reider, MD, Albany Medical College, chair
- Richard Usatine, MD, University of Texas HSC at San Antonio, FMDRL editor in chief
- Helen Baker, PhD, MBA, West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine
- Roger Sherwood, CAE, STFM executive director, principal investigator
- Enid Geyer, MLS, Albany Medical College
- Mary Moore, PhD, University of Texas HSC at San Antonio
- Traci Nolte, STFM communications director
