review article Undergraduate - Postgraduate Integration. Continuous Curriculum in Family Medicine to Take Place in Certified GP’s Practices
Authors: Francesco Carelli1*, Marina Mesina2
*Corresponding Author: Prof. Francesco Carelli, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Milan, Italy
1Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Milan, Italy
2Department of Neurology - Headache Centre, St. Charles Hospital, Milan, Italy
Received Date: 3 June 2022
Accepted Date: 6 June 2022
Published Date: 9 June 2022
Citation: Carelli F, Mesina M (2022) Undergraduate - Postgraduate integration. Continuous curriculum in Family Medicine to take place in certified GPs’ practices. Educ Res Appl 6: 195. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29011/2575-7032.100195
The key competences requested for adequate professional performance can be reduced to a fairly small number. Likewise, the GPs’ lifelong curriculum includes a small number of key competences, as communication skills, solving problems skill and information spreading. All these ones area carried out in a manageable number of competences to be learnt and evaluated in a specific undergraduate course, and aimed to produce a “specific” doctor.
Clearness in aims is essential to make “spiral curriculum” (dealing with problems at growing complexity levels) and address the requested educational needs to different phases. Making sure that essential skills and attitudes are achieved and evaluated, curriculum contents and development must secure that intellectual curiosity, wish to do and surprise are developed.
Role modelling process begins since the first day. Hospital training shows to the students what’d be like working as a doctor in the hospital. Students are bound to wish discovering and getting in touch with medical environment in which they act, touching on every aspect of “hidden and possible curriculum”. Growing emphasis, in hospital, on short stay and increasing technological level for patients affected with very serious illnesses and serious or minor acute illnesses which are the main problem in the population.
Family Physicians have the special opportunity to train students on illnesses context and meaning, being so a great example in how relevant principles and training, introduced into undergraduate level, are for postgraduate training and continuing professional development. This educational skill on key competences, not only doesn’t make Family Medicine less important, but also put it as a specific discipline since the beginning in the centre of undergraduate curriculum. The learning opportunities can be more developed by the settlement of Primary Care Teams (or Departmental Structures) with medical practices dedicated to teaching and training, ideal seats for cooperation and integration between undergraduate and postgraduate.
There is increasing discussion about definition of educational aims for specialist Family Medicine. These ones are the basis for evaluation and, in their turn, show the way to carry out and learn by spiral curriculum: the way is direct measurement of clinical competence and communication skills by direct and systematic observation of consultations with real or simulated patients, both in undergraduate and postgraduate phase.
Therefore, teaching the teachers is a crucial aspect in this field and is performed at various levels in many European Countries since various ages, contributing to train and bring to maturity a corp of “Teachers for the teachers and trainers”, over-national and with a certified curriculum, spendable in every Country, also according to European directions about free circulation and acknowledgement of diploma’s, degrees and qualifications.