Family doctors vs AI

David VK Chao 周偉強

HK Pract 2025;47:62-63

Professor Martin Roland, Emeritus Professor of Health Services Research, University of Cambridge and our HKCFP Honorary Fellow 2025, delivered the 35^th Dr Sun Yat San Oration of the HKCFP recently during our Conjoint Fellowship Ceremony on the hot topic of “What are Family Doctors for? And will they be replaced by artificial intelligence?” We are very grateful towards Professor Roland for sharing with us his oration manuscript in this issue of the journal.¹ Professor Roland took us through a journey of Family Medicine/General Practice development. He then discussed the characteristics of care being delivered by Family Doctors/General Practitioners and the impacts on our work by the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI). He concluded that AI is going to help us become better scientific doctors but will not replace the need for the care which we show to our patients every day. It is a wonderful script. Do enjoy it.

Urinary incont inence in women is a prevalent issue causing inconvenience and disturbances in daily life. It can affect the general health of the patient with negative impacts on the physical, social and psychological wellbeing.² In this issue of the journal, Li et al explored the knowledge levels of urinary incontinence among Hong Kong Chinese women using a cross-sectional questionnaire study involving 351 local Chinese women aged 40 years or above attended the General Out-patient Clinics (GOPCs) of Hong Kong West Cluster (HKWC) between 1^st May to 30^th June 2022.² It was found that 53.2% of the respondents had symptoms of urinary incontinence. However, only a quarter of those symptomatic patients went to see a doctor for consultation. After data analysis, they concluded that the knowledge level among the Chinese female patients who attended GOPCs of HKWC during the research period was below average. Li et al found that considering urinary incontinence as one of the effects of normal aging was the main misconception held by the respondents in the study and it was the most prevalent barrier for seeking medical help also. Other predictors for low knowledge level of urinary incontinence found in the study included low education level and low income level. Hence, it was recommended to enhance community education on urinary incontinence to improve women’s knowledge and encourage them to seek appropriate medical help in a timely manner.

Wong et al conducted a cross-sectional survey to explore the confidence of family doctors in carrying out minor office procedures in public primary care clinics in Kowloon Central Cluster from 1^st June to 31^th December 2021.³ They found from the respondents that completion of Family Medicine basic vocational training, surgical rotation and attachment to office procedure training were associated with better procedural confidence. However, limited confidence in performing common office procedures by the public primary care doctors was shown and it was reported to be due to a multitude of factors including the lack of hands-on exposure in the public primary care clinics, as well as consultation time and manpower constraints. The authors recommended to have additional training programmes targeting at improving family doctors’ procedure skills.

References

1. Martin Roland. What are Family Doctors for? And will they be replaced by artificial intelligence? HK Pract 2025;47:80-83.
2. Minru Li, Huali Wang, Wai-kit Ko, et al. The knowledge level towards urinary incontinence among community-dwelling Hong Kong Chinese women – a cross-sectional study. HK Pract 2025;47:64-71.
3. Henry HH Wong, Lap-kin Chiang, Susanna LL Hung, et al. Confidence of family physicians in performing office procedures – a cross-sectional survey from public primary care clinics in Hong Kong. HK Pract 2025;47:72-79.