Sami Ayed (MOH); Zekeriya Akturk (MOH); Savithiri Ratnapalan (UOT)

The Need for Postgraduate Education for GP’s

Receiving high quality of health care is the fundamental right of every individual. However, due to the very diverse background of primary care doctors in KSA, we cannot speak of a standardized service for all regions. Although there are a lot of CME activities, it is necessary to have a centrally organized training, prepared and provided by family physicians with the viewpoint of family medicine and primary care to cover the real needs of the GPs and patients applying to them.

Structure of FAME Courses

General aim of the FAME courses is to assist primary care physicians gaining the essential knowledge, skills, and attitudes for their daily practice. There will be a series of courses in a modular approach (Figure 1), each concentrating on a specific area but with integration within the different courses. Modules will concentrate on the main concepts in family medicine and the management of the most common problems encountered in daily practice.

Module 1: Introduction to Family Medicine

This is a three days course for GPs. It is designed to give theoretical information on some main areas of family medicine including the definition and scope of family medicine, communication skills, consultation and referral, and the clinical method in family medicine. Each topic area starts with a lecturing and continues with group work, discussions and other interactive learning activities. The course is mainly constructed to enable interactive learning with opportunities of peer learning, brainstorming, small and big group discussions, didactic lecturing with audiovisual support as well as problem based approaches. Group discussions, role plays, and case discussions will be used to facilitate behavioral changes. As a distinct approach, this course is highly learner oriented with much emphasis on practical performance; one whole day is reserved for role playing and case discussions.

Implementation

The FAME courses was nationally conducted in 2009 in 3 regions with 221(86.3%) from total number of GPs in that areas.61.3% (157) succeed to complete all modules of fame course. In 2010 expanded happen and the course was conduct 6 regions with 497(29.1%) from total number of GPs in that areas.25.8% (440) succeed to complete all modules of fame course. Lastly, 2011 more expansion happen and the course was conduct in other 6 regions with 986(46.3%) from total number of GPs in that areas.43.4% (426) succeed to complete all modules of fame course.

Conclusion

We believe that the FAME courses is establish a well structured training facility for primary care physicians enabling them to gain theoretical knowledge as well as concrete and solid information, which they can directly apply at work. Long term result of the courses will be standardized and high quality physician work force in primary care.