Training experts in family medicine teaching.

Family medicine teachers require specific educational skills. A framework for their professional development is essential for future development of the discipline in Europe. EURACT developed a framework on educational expertise, and subsequently applied it in a curriculum of teaching-skills courses of various levels.

Agreement in patient-physician communication in primary care: a study from Central and Eastern Europe.

Objective: Efficient patient-physician collaboration is proven to have a direct benefit on health care outcomes through improved compliance, appointment keeping and use of preventive services. The aim of this study was to evaluate the patient-physician agreement on communication during primary care consultations and consider possible discrepancies.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey using self-administered questionnaires was performed in primary care in four European countries (Lithuania, Slovenia, Serbia and Russia).

Satisfaction with organizational aspects of health care provision among Lithuanian physicians.

Background: Physician satisfaction is considered an important factor influencing quality of health care provision, patient compliance, and costs to health care systems. Dissatisfaction leads to an increase in turnover of physicians and early retirement, which has a negative impact on continuity and quality of health care. Physician dissatisfaction with certain aspects of health care provision may also help to identify potential weaknesses in satisfactory functioning of health care systems.

[Influence of patient's social and demographic characteristics on patient's expectations for medical consultation].

Unlabelled: Most of the patients, coming to see their primary care physician, have explicit expectations and priorities for the medical consultation. Recognition of these expectations is an important step in organizing patient-oriented health care services. Patient expectations depend on a number of factors: health problem and its severity, as well as social and demographic characteristics of patient and physician.