WONCA Europe 2004: There's More Than Tulips in Amsterdam

More than two thousand participants gathered in the RAI Congress Center in Amsterdam from June 1 to 4 for the WONCA Europe Regional Conference 2004. Some eight hundred of them were Dutch GPs, the others came from other countries in Europe and far beyond. For the first time in WONCA history, part of the programme was dedicated to GP-trainees; some five hundred of them made the air swirl from time to time. All in all it became a special conference, with many highlights.

Preconferences, the Opening Ceremony and Plenaries

On June 1 there were several preconferences. One of those was about 'Women and Leadership: Enhancing Career Opportunities'. Two lectures were held during this meeting, one about 'cracking the glass ceiling' and one about the difference between the management skills of men and women. However, the main goal of the meeting was to create a network of European women, for which the first steps were taken.

Also the 'Junior Doctors' met for the first time during a preconference. Thirty three Dutch and thirty three 'foreign' GP-trainees and recently graduated GPs partook in the programme. They set out to create the basic demands that should be met by all European GP vocational trainings.

The third preconference was organized by NIVEL, a Dutch research institute that recently published the results of their 'Second National Study' of all activities in general practice. The research covers the whole country. It provides a very valuable record of all complaints presented and treatments offered in general practice. The same research was held in 1989, thus providing good comparison of the changes over the past 15 years.

The official WONCA conference opened in the evening of June 1, with welcomes from the Host Organizing Committee President, Arno Timmermans, from WONCA Europe President, Philip Evans, and Scientific Programme Committee Chair, Wim Stalman. Professor Marjukka Mäkelä, GP in Finland, opened with a wonderful plenary talk, "From Evidence to Action", how evidence based medicine can be applied in daily general practice.

Guest at the opening ceremony of the Conference. From left to right:
Dr Philip R. Evans, WONCA Europe Regional President; Prof. Chris van Weel, imm. past WONCA Europe Regional President; Prof. W. Stalman, Chairman of the Scientific Programme; Dr Fons Sips, chairman working party JDP; Dr Justin Allen, President of EURACT; Dr Arno Timmermans, President of the College of GP the Netherlands; Prof. em. Harry Crebolder, liaison person.

Attentive listing to information about the general practice training situation.

Inspiring and relaxed discussion around the lunch table

In his plenary presentation, Dutch Minister of Health, Hans Hoogervorst, described the health care challenges of the aging population. "In the Netherlands we now have four workers for every person over 65. In 2040 only two workers will remain for every retiree. We therefore need to restructure the health care system, not only in Holland, but also in the rest of Europe." The GP will have an important role in solving the problems, according to Hoogervorst, as in Holland no less than 96 percent of all health problems are dealt with by GPs. "Even though many things must change, I am proud of the way Dutch GPs do their jobs", said the Minister of Health.

Workshops, Lectures, Posters

The conference participants then spread over the vicinities for the numerous parallel workshops, lectures and poster sessions. Also, some new working methods are introduced. Quite successful were the 'debate sessions' in which the pros and cons of controversial topics in healthcare were discussed.

Most interesting were "mega workshops" on "communication and attitude" involved 1500 GPs in an enormous hall. They sat in groups of about five or six around small tables. Most people had never met each other before and the cultural differences often were large. 'Try to trust the people sitting at your table, as sometimes there will be discussions about sensitive subjects', the workshop moderator suggested. When the participants were asked to discuss a topic for the first time, an awkward silence fell. But then the roar of hundreds and hundreds of human voices filled the hall. It worked! Three mega workshops were held: 'If you know what I mean' (about giving information and advice), 'Am I supposed to think that's normal?' (about the influence of personal norms, standards and frames of reference), and 'Oops… I'm so sorry!' (about making mistakes and legal litigation). For many participants, these mega workshops were the highlights of the conference.

On this last day of the conference the participants went to work with the theme of "practice management". Attention focused on task delegation, personal learning plans, and the use of quality indicators in general practice. The junior doctors met for the last time during the conference: they did not only come to seven recommendations for the European GP vocational training (which should be taking three years), but they also established a 'European junior doctor organization'. More of them will be heard in the near future!

The final lecture was held by professor Richard Grol. He explained the reasons why implementing changes take so much time. After talking about the learning possibilities in daily practice, Grol concluded: 'Let's invest in young GPs. We have seen during this conference how important they are for the future of our profession.' Wim Stalman thanked everyone for an outstanding conference and Phillip Evans welcomed the participants to meet him at the WONCA World Conference in Orlando!

Ans Stalenhoef
Dutch College of General Practitioners
A.Stalenhoef@nhg-nl.org