New Zealand among global social media initiative leaders for primary care advocacy

Abstract

The international ‘#1WordforFamilyMedicine’ initiative explores the identity of General Practitioners (GPs) and Family Physicians (FPs) by allowing the international Family Medicine community to collaborate on advocating for the discipline via social media. The New Zealand version attracted 83 responses on social media. Thematic analysis was performed on the responses and a ‘word cloud’ image was created based on an image identifying the country around the world - that of the silver fern. The ‘#1WorldforFamilyMedicine’ project was promoted by WONCA (World Organisation of Family Doctors) globally to help celebrate World Family Doctor Day on 19 May 2015. To date, over 80 images have been created in 60 different countries on six continents. The images represent GPs’ love for their profession and the community they serve. We hope that this initiative will help inspire current and future Family Medicine and Primary Care providers.

The spice route's perspective on family medicine via the social media project “#1WordforFamilyMedicine”

“…To date, over 115 images have been created in 100 different countries in all seven World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) regions. [ 1 2 3 4 ] These images were viewed more than 70,000 times from across more than 115 countries. [ 5 ] This initiative highlights the importance of FM at the national, community, and individual levels.…”

The use of quality circles as a support tool in the taking over of practices by young general practitioners

“…They work due to similar needs and feelings of the GPs across the world. [ 22 ] At the moment, many professional development opportunities are in place, for example, Young Doctors Movement (YDM) under World Organization of family Doctors. YDM has been working for over a decade now, and its popularity has come from its variety of educational and scientific projects.…”

#1WordforFamilyMedicine Korea and 2018 WONCA World Conference highlights

“…[12345] These images were viewed more than 200,000 times across more than 125 countries. [6] The global initiative #1WordforFamilyMedicine explores the identity of family physicians (FPs) by allowing the international FM community to collaborate on advocating the specialty through social media.…”