Vivek S. Kantayya, MD, FAAFP, interim head of the department of family and community medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford, family physician at the University Primary Care Clinic in Mt. Morris and assistant professor of clinical family medicine,has completed continuing medical education requirements to retain membership in the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). AAFP is the only medical specialty organization devoted solely to primary care. To be members of the AAFP, family physicians must complete 150 hours of continuing medical education every three years to learn the most up-to-date treatments, technologies and medical research.
Family physicians complete an extensive three-year residency program after graduating from medical school. As part of their residency, family physicians receive training in six major medical areas: pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, psychiatry and neurology, surgery and community medicine. As a result, family physicians are the only medical specialists qualified to provide comprehensive health care for people of all ages, both sexes, each organ system and every disease entity.
The AAFP was the first national medical specialty organization to set continuing education requirements for its members. This requirement helps ensure family physician members remain educated on the most up-to-date medical technologies, research and techniques.