A new horizon in the development of family medicine - diploma in family medicine

S K S Foo 傅鑑蘇

Since its inception 25 years ago, the goal of the Hong Kong College of Family Physicians has been to upgrade the standard of general practice and primary medical care delivery in Hong Kong. One of the great achievements of the College is the organisation of the Conjoint Fellowship Examination with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. For the past 15 years since the Conjoint Examination comes into existence, our College has produced 167 Fellows in Family Medicine. However of the 5000 doctors in primary care in Hong Kong, at present there are only 131 specialists in Family Medicine with the status of Fellowship of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine and 203 doctors who have obtained postgraduate higher qualifications in Family Medicine. Our College envisages the need to encompass more doctors to be trained in Family Medicine in order to meet the ever increasing demand for the delivery of quality primary care to our community. There is an urgent need for opportunities to upgrade the knowledge and skills of those doctors in general practice who may have busy schedules and lack time to attend courses which require regular classroom meetings. In fact, it has been stated in the "Good Medical Practice for General Practitioners" that it is essential for doctors to keep up to date and to maintain their performance.¹

The Diploma Course in Family Medicine organised by the College would provide a suitable structured programme which not only meets the academic standard required but also is intellectually stimulating and will be delivered in a flexible and portable mode. The Diploma Course is a one-year part-time course. The theoretical component will be delivered by distance-learning materials provided by the Monash University, whereas, clinical practice training will be organised by our College with structured seminars, practical workshops and clinical attachments. Our objective is to provide a pragmatic and structured teaching of general practice for doctors in primary care especially for those who have not undergone vocational training in Family Medicine. We postulate that the course would be eventually regarded as part of the recognised training activities for candidates in the basic and higher training of Family Medicine. The course is also academically structured in order to obtain quotability status from the Medical Council.

In a rapidly changing medical profession with medical knowledge and technologies expanding at an exponential rate, primary care doctors should realise the core value of the discipline of Family Medicine which distinguishes them from doctors in other specialties. It is only through a continuous learning process in the structured programmes of our field that we can provide a better quality service to our patients. I am sure the Diploma course we organise can serve to meet the demand of our primary care doctors.

(For further information on the Diploma Course, please refer to the Announcement of the College)