Family Medicine mission and vision

Mission
In a spirit of caring and compassion, we will enhance the healthcare of the people of central and southern Illinois through education, service, scholarship and community outreach in Academic Family Medicine Programs.

Vision
Our vision for the Department of Family and Community Medicine is to:
Educate medical students, physician assistant students and resident physicians in the principles and practice of Family Medicine.

• Provide excellent and comprehensive training in Family Medicine to resident physicians.
• Provide high-quality, cutting-edge health care to the people of central and southern Illinois, through systems that are useful, affordable, and safe, that improve health outcomes and that strive to provide health care access for all people.
• Advance the discipline of Family Medicine through scholarship and the acquisition and application of new knowledge.

Guiding Principles of the Vision
The department will have residency training programs that assure that graduates become board certified in Family Medicine, and provide resident physicians with the broad skills necessary for the various opportunities available to them.

• The department will have an educational program for students and residents, which emphasizes continuous comprehensive medical care in the context of the personal medical home, biopsychosocial issues, clinical epidemiology, preventive medicine, community-oriented primary care, medical informatics and practice management.
• As the home of the Physician Assistant Training Program, the department will support the education of physician assistant students recognizing their key role as part of the healthcare workforce particularly for primary care in rural and underserved areas.
• The department will provide efficient, comprehensive patient care services of the highest quality to support its educational, service, scholarly and administrative goals.
• Our programs will enhance health care delivery to medically vulnerable, underserved populations by addressing their medical needs and social determinants of health through integrated teams.
• Research and scholarly activity will reflect the broad range of interests in the discipline of Family Medicine and will include research involving the health care needs of populations.
• To fulfill our mission and to achieve its goals, we will collaborate and cooperate with the departments and agencies of Southern Illinois University and its School of Medicine, other institutions of higher learning, other health care professions, affiliated teaching hospitals, public and governmental agencies, and private enterprises.
• In support of the mission of the SIU School of Medicine and in recognition of the opportunities afforded by our geographic location, the department will be a model in training, scholarship, clinical care and community outreach for the underserved and those most vulnerable.
• The department will provide experiences in rural medicine for medical and physician assistant students at all levels of training.
• Programs will be developed that encourage and prepare a significant proportion of resident physicians to practice in rural or underserved areas, particularly in Illinois.
• Resident physicians will attain the clinical, procedural and management skills necessary to deliver excellent health care and to maintain professional and personal satisfaction and wellness in their practice of medicine.
• In recognition of the limited availability of specialist physicians and facilities in underserved areas, resident physicians will develop tempered independence.
• Clinical services will be developed to meet the needs of individual people and populations in a broad geographic area in Southern, Central and Western Illinois.
• Research and scholarly activity supported by the department will involve population health policy and the health and medical needs of underserved populations.

Values

• Service - We are dedicated to serving the people and communities of Central and Southern Illinois, our patients, our learners, our profession, and one another.
• Excellence - We are dedicated to academic programs, clinical service, teaching and research of the highest quality.
• Collaboration - We are dedicated to working with others within and outside our organization to advance the mission of the department and the School of Medicine.
• Integrity - We are dedicated to personal and organizational integrity and the maintenance of the highest ethical standards of patient care, education and scholarship.
• Participation - We are dedicated to recognize, respect and utilize the talents and ideas of all members of the department.