WONCA Working Party on Mental Health – “Medically Unexplained Symptoms”
Our very active Working Party on Mental Health have informed us that their latest document – a guidance for family doctors on patients with medically unexplained symptoms - is now available on the WONCA website. WWPMH especially thanks Tim oldeHartman and all the MUS task group for producing this excellent document, which will be very helpful to family doctors around the world. We encourage you to share it with your colleagues and teams and include it in your training programmes. A shorter version has also been accepted for publication in the British Journal of General Practice. The full document can be accessed at: http://www.globalfamilydoctor.com/News/FamilyDoctorandMedicallyUnexplainedSymptoms.aspx
Towards highly trained specialists in General Practice/Family Medicine
General Practice/Family Medicine (GP/FM) is a key discipline within primary health care and by extension for the whole health care system. Essential conditions for effective GP/FM care is a workforce that is highly qualified and the acceptance of GP/FM as a medical specialty. In 2017 the European Union of General Practitioners (UEMO) decided to explore the issue of the recognition of GP/FM as a specialty within the member countries of the European Union (EU). A request was made by UEMO to WONCA Europe for a statement on the training requirements for GP/FM. This role was delegated to WONCA Europe’s education network EURACT. You can read ore about the work undertaken, and access a full copy of the Euract document “European Training Requirements for GP/FM specialist training” on the WONCA website.
WONCA Working Party on Research : Annual report
It’s the time of year when all WONCA groups are compiling reports for inclusion into the WONCA Annual Report. This week we feature that of the WP on Research, with Prof Felicity Goodyear-Smith, Chair of the WP, reporting on 2017-18 activities. Research WONCA has been very active in the past year, the membership has grown and communication is maintained via a Google discussion group, with 68 members of the Research Assembly. She also reminds us of the forthcoming publication from the WP: “How to do primary care research” which is planned for launch in Korea in October.
