A survey of 314 family medicine residency program directors agreed that self-directed learning is an essential skill for family physicians. However, many reported their programs do not directly assess this skill set or include it in their curricula. The survey, part of a larger survey conducted by the Council of Academic Family Medicine Educational Research Alliance (CERA), asked family medicine residency directors about their program's readiness to teach and assess self-directed learning skills. While 93.6% of program directors agreed or strongly agreed that their recent graduates modeled lifelong learning, only 44% agreed or strongly agreed that their programs had written expectations around self-directed learning. More than one-half (57.6%) of responding program directors indicated self-directed learning was a high curricular priority, and 56.3% reported their programs collect evidence of engagement in self-directed learning.
Why It Matters: Creating a standardized curriculum for residency programs and recommending tools for assessment may improve program readiness for self-directed learning training.
Are Family Medicine Residency Programs Ready to Teach and Assess Learners' Self-Directed Learning Skills?
Corresponding Author: Drew Keister, MD, et al
Department of Education, University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, Tampa, Florida
Permanent and shareable link (accessible beginning 5pm ET, Monday, July 27, 2026)
