Possibilities of family medicine in medical education

Abstract

Family medicine is a discipline that has only recently joined the academic arena. Because of this, the academic contribution of this discipline to universities has not been clarified yet. On the other hand, the medical schools suffer from well-known challenges, that have been largely known in the discussions about the crisis of academic medicine. The article explores the possibilities of mutual cooperation between family medicine and the universities. In order to profit from the qualities of academic medicine and family medicine, a partnership between the two needs to be established. It should be built on acceptance of differences and adaptation of family medicine to the rules of the academia, which should be done without sacrificing its principles. The author describes three potential scenarios how family medicine can be introduced in the undergraduate curriculum: a) as a subject at the end of the curriculum, b) as collaboration in early patient contact and teaching clinical skills and c) as part of the integrated curriculum.The author concludes that both family medicine and the medical school have a lot to benefit from mutual cooparation. This requires compromises that are not always easy.

Academic cooperation in family medicine: A viewpoint from Split

“…Medical education. Continue to improve and harmonize the undergraduate and postgraduate teaching process (18,19) in cooperation with international FM organizations, such as the mentioned EURACT in Europe or STFM (Society of Teachers of Family Medicine) in the USA. Consider the following attempts: -exchange of experience with the existing and/or novel teaching aids; weighing the reasons for and against their routine implementation; -balancing and updating the catalogues of skills, knowledge, and attitudes sought and taught within our medical schools; -improving speci c problem solving competency through formal study of how to solve clinical problems and testing these skills in an OSCE environment (e.g.…”

“…Professional issues. Improvement in competencies and social rating of family physicians (6,18). In particular improving the perception of FM by other specialists by: -setting FM guidelines for some imaging (e.g.…”

What can we learn from each other about undergraduate medical education in general practice/family medicine?

“…Nine out of 13 GP/FM departments participate in teaching other subjects apart from FM/GP, including subjects seemingly unrelated such as ‘Medical informatics’, to traditional subjects such as ‘Clinical skills’ and ‘Communication skills’. As stated by Švab “family medicine has a lot to offer medical schools” ( 9 ), therefore, it should be in our interest to share our knowledge and experience with as many colleagues as possible, and by doing so, expose medical students to the breadth, depth and beauty of family medicine.…”