Abstract
BackgroundFamily physicians play a significant role in the district health system and need to be equipped with a broad range of clinical skills in order to meet the needs and expectations of the communities they serve. A previous study in 2007 reached national consensus on the clinical skills that should be taught in postgraduate family medicine training prior to the introduction of the new speciality. Since then, family physicians have been trained, employed and have gained experience of working in the district health services. The national Education and Training Committee of the South African Academy of Family Physicians, therefore, requested a review of the national consensus on clinical skills for family medicine training.MethodsA Delphi technique was used to reach national consensus in a panel of 17 experts: family physicians responsible for training, experienced family physicians in practice and managers responsible for employing family physicians.ResultsConsensus was reached on 242 skills from which the panel decided on 211 core skills, 28 elective skills and 3 skills to be deleted from the previous list. The panel was unable to reach consensus on 11 skills.ConclusionThe findings will guide training programmes on the skills to be addressed and ensure consistency across training programmes nationally. The consensus will also guide formative assessment as documented in the national portfolio of learning and summative assessment in the national exit examination. The consensus will be of interest to other countries in the region where training programmes in family medicine are developing.
Highlights
International policy guidelines stipulate that registrars in family medicine should be taught all the procedures within their scope of practice during training
The training of family medicine registrars in clinical skills is a crucial element in the development of family physicians (FPs) for district health services in South Africa.[3]
The skills list generated by this study represents a new national consensus on the clinical skill outcomes for postgraduate family medicine training programmes in South Africa
Summary
International policy guidelines stipulate that registrars in family medicine should be taught all the procedures within their scope of practice during training. The minimum requirement would be to cover all procedures typically performed by a substantial number of practising family physicians (FPs) in both ambulatory and inpatient settings. These procedures should be taught by FPs and the list should be updated on a regular basis to include new or emerging procedures.[1] there is not always adequate coverage of all procedures or consistency between training programmes, even in the same country. A previous study in 2007 reached national consensus on the clinical skills that should be taught in postgraduate family medicine training prior to the introduction of the new speciality. The national Education and Training Committee of the South African Academy of Family Physicians, requested a review of the national consensus on clinical skills for family medicine training
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