WP on Education - July update

Prof Val Wass, Chair of the WONCA Working Party on Education writes:

Workshops at conferences

Two workshops were held at WONCA Europe in Prague on the Undergraduate (UG) curriculum. There is undoubtedly strong interest in improving the status of family medicine as a career choice to medical students globally. The workshop in Prague in June concluded with the following actions:

1: We need to lobby and impress specialist power brokers who influence the curriculum.

2: All medical schools should establish/ improve /strengthen a Department of General Practice.

3: Family medicine needs to be represented in some way in every year of the UG curriculum. It can be a problem if only introduced late in the curriculum; start early and increase exposure.

4: We need to gain territory from other specialities and the influence they have on students

Three further workshops have been submitted to the Asia Pacific conference in November, supported by members from Brunei, Canada, Japan, Malaysia and the Philippines. If accepted they cover: progressing the Undergraduate (UG) curriculum, formative assessment and continuous professional development standards (CPD). Ideas for developing a global WONCA strategy on the UG curriculum and promoting careers in Family Medicine are welcome please.

Education for Primary Care Journal

We have been delighted to learn that all Council for Australian University Libraries (CAUL) now offer access to Education for Primary Care: a deal offered by Taylor and Francis for three years. The appointment of Professor Ian Wilson as a Deputy Editor offers an excellent opportunity to disseminate more widely on both sides of the globe.

Free access for a month for one article per issue will continue. Judging by the number of hits on the website this is being widely used. Open access for the July issue to be announced shortly. Please feedback any views on which articles are most useful. Email Convenor

Open access article information and link

Our Working Party website can be directly accessed at www.globalfamilydoctor.com/education

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