How P(H)C is your curriculum?

In South Africa and internationally, the alignment of health professions education programme with primary healthcare (PHC) policies is seen to promote the training of fit-for-purpose graduates who can adequately respond to the demands of patient and community needs. This article seeks to describe the development of a tool to assess the degree of PHC in an undergraduate medical curriculum. In defining what is meant by PHC, four dimensions of PHC were identified for the purpose of designing the tool, namely values underpinning PHC, principles of PHC, a generalist focus of the programme, and the level of care that the programme is delivered at.

Medical student learning on a distributed training platform in rural district hospitals.

Background:  Decentralising medical school training enhances curriculum relevance, exposing students to generalist patient care in diverse contexts.

Aim:  The aim of the study was to understand the student experiences of learning during their 7-week Family Medicine rural rotation.

Setting:  Final year medical students who had completed their Family Medicine rotation in November 2022.

Mapping Evidence in Teaching Palliative Care in Undergraduate Curriculum of Healthcare Professionals Qualification: A Systematic Scoping Review Protocol.

Background: Clinical Practice Guidelines recommend interprofessional collaboration in palliative care. However, healthcare profession educators lack clear curricular guidance, particularly for undergraduate programs, to adequately train future professionals for effective participation in such teams.

Objective: This systematic scoping review protocol aims to address this gap by: (i) mapping evidence on key characteristics of teaching palliative and end-of-life (EOL) care to undergraduate healthcare and social care students, and (ii) identifying the nature and effectiveness of educational interventions for improving palliative care education in the undergraduate curriculum.

The contribution of family physicians and primary care doctors to community-orientated primary care.

South Africa envisages a community-orientated approach to primary health care (PHC). Family physicians and primary care doctors have important roles to play in leading, implementing, supporting and maintaining community-orientated primary care (COPC). In this article, we define COPC, its key principles and approaches to implementing it in health services.

Revisiting the doctor's role at the primary healthcare clinic.

With the growing evidence regarding the benefit of a primary healthcare (PHC) approach to both individual patients and for a healthier community, a number of policy initiatives in South Africa are aimed at strengthening services at subdistrict level. Historically, the role of the doctor in many PHC clinics in South Africa had been limited to a clinical role. However, in the context of wanting to have a greater impact on social determinants of health, the role of the doctor at the PHC clinic needs to be revisited.