From the Wonca President
:
GFD - A One-Stop Site for all your Needs
2
From the CEO’s Desk
:
We Thank our First Wonca Global Sponsors
2
From the Editor
:
Wonca - Promoting Excellence in
3
Education, Practice and Research
FEATURE STORIES
4
• Wonca Contributes to Global Initiative for Lung Disease
• Iberoamericana-CIMF Promotes ‘Margarita Declaration’
• Wonca World Council Issues ‘Call for Humanity’
Wonca REGIONAL NEWS
6
• Research Network Development High Priority in Asia-Pacific Region
• EGPRN Sets General Practice Research Priorities in Europe
• Register Now for the May 2005 Asia-Regional Conference in Japan
• The Greek Island of Kos to Host September 2005 Europe Regional
Conference
HEALTH AND HEALTH SYSTEM NEWS
9
• WHO Launches Global Commission on Social Determinants
of Health
• Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Becomes
International Law
MEMBER AND ORGANIZATIONAL NEWS
11
• Meet Michael Kidd: Wonca Executive Member at Large
• Malta College of Family Doctors Holds General Practice Teacher’s
Course
• Wonca February Global Doctor of the Month is Dr Cynthia Haq
RESOURCES FOR THE FAMILY DOCTOR
13
• Our ‘new-look’ GlobalFamilyDoctor - Wonca Online
• Keeping up-to-date Through GFD
• Preparing a Health Care Workforce for the 21st Century:
The Challenge of Chronic Conditions
WONCA CONFERENCES 2005-2010 AT A GLANCE
15
GLOBAL MEETINGS FOR THE FAMILY DOCTOR
16
VOLUME 31
NUMBER 2
APRIL 2005
CONTENTS
Wonca website:
http://www.GlobalFamilyDoctor.com
Wonca President
Prof Bruce Sparks, South Africa
2 Cruden Bay Road
Greenside
Johannesburg 2193
South Africa
Tel: 27 11 646 2140
Fax: 27 11 717 2558
Email: brucespa@global.co.za
Wonca Chief Executive Officer
Dr Alfred W T Loh
Wonca Administrative Manager
Ms Yvonne Chung
World Organization of Family Doctors
College of Medicine Building
16 College Road # 01-02
Singapore 169854
Tel: 65 6224 2886
Fax: 65 6324 2029
Email: admin@wonca.com.sg
Wonca President-Elect
Prof Chris van Weel, Netherlands
Wonca Immediate Past President
Dr Michael Boland, Ireland
Honorary Treasurer
Richard Roberts, MD, USA
Wonca Regional Presidents
Dr Abra T Fransch, Africa
Warren A Heffron, MD, Americas
A/Prof Goh Lee Gan, Asia Pacific
Prof Igor Svab, Europe
Dr Shatendra K Gupta, Middle East
South Asia
Dr Adolfo Rubinstein,
Iberoamericana-CIMF
Wonca Executive Members at Large
Dr Javier Dominguez del Olmo, Mexico
Prof Michael Kidd, Australia
Richard Roberts, MD, USA
Chair, Bylaws and Regulations
Dan Ostergaard, MD, USA
Chair, Publications & Communications
Dr Geoffrey D Martin, Australia
Wonca News & Editorial Office
Marc L Rivo, MD
4566 Prairie Avenue
Miami Beach, Florida 33140, USA
Tel: 305 671 7327
Fax: 305 674 8839
Email: marcrivo@aol.com
WONCA GLOBAL SPONSORS:
FROM THE CEO’S DESK:
WE THANK OUR FIRST WONCA GFD
GLOBAL SPONSORS
I sincerely hope that by now you would have found
the new Homepage of the Wonca Website
(www.GlobalFamilyDoctor.com) attractive, friendly and
convenient to use and navigate. We have plans to
further improve the Homepage and other sections of the
Wonca Website. These will become possible as Wonca
and the Website begin to receive financial support in
the form of unrestricted grants for the work that Wonca
is doing.
You will have noticed on this new Homepage the
logos of four pharmaceutical multinationals (Altana
Pharma, AstraZeneca and Boehringer Ingelheim) who
were the first to become Wonca Global Sponsors for this
year. These sponsorships will be unrestricted grants in
support of Wonca’s Global Mission.
In appreciation for the support these multinationals
are giving to Wonca, they have in turn been offered
certain working privileges with Wonca that will recognize
them as Global Sponsors and friends of Wonca.
These Global Sponsors will enjoy the following :
1.Sponsors will be acknowledged at appropriate
Wonca events like World and Regional Conferences
and will be invited to participate in, and attend
openings, banquets and other official and ceremonial
Wonca meetings as special guests.
2.Sponsors will have special communication access to
the Wonca CEO and other leaders to identify special
global opportunities relating to Wonca activities.
FROM THE WONCA PRESIDENT:
GFD – A ONE-STOP SITE FOR ALL YOUR
NEEDS
One of my family medicine trainees said to me
the other day, “I find the Wonca Website
(www.GlobalFamilyDoctor.com) one of my most popular
sources for medical information. As a busy practitioner I
need a website that easily keeps me up-to-date on the
latest journal articles relevant to my work, and also
contains more in-depth information on specific topics
when required. The Wonca GFD site does just that!”
What was particularly important for Eddie were the
free Journal Alerts. Imagine obtaining a one-line
summary of all the important journal articles relevant to
family doctors in your email Inbox three days every
week! With just a mouse click on the line that interests
you, you could view an abstract or the complete article
.... epidemiological, clinical, educational, health services
research ... all for free! They are searched and reviewed
personally by family physicians, so they are relevant,
useful, important, up-to-date, topical and evidence-
based! Enrol for Journal Alerts at the top of this screen.
In designing this website we have been very aware
of the specific needs of practicing family doctors. Many
do not have easy access to the web during their
working hours, but when it is available, practitioners
must be able to access the data quickly, and with little
effort and using limited IT skills. This requires an easily
searchable database of the nearly 4000 clinical reviews
and critiqued journal items, clinical guidelines and
evidence-based information available on the site.
The Wonca site also provides access to a repository
of POEMs (Patient-Oriented Evidence that Matters),
Disease and Travel Alerts, and eMedicine, which are
suitable for all regions of the World. Wonca is
particularly cognisant of the need to also provide
appropriate health care information which is relevant to
regions where resources are limited or scarce.
Wonca proposes to create an Online Educational
Resource Centre, through which it will provide its own
CME/CPD that will attract credit points. It is also hoped
to have online courses and even College accredited
programmes and diplomata.
Of course the site is also a portal to the many
activities of Wonca the organisation, working parties on
WONCA
News
FROM THE WONCA PRESIDENT/FROM THE CEO’S DESK
2
quality improvement, classification and coding, research
and many others; details of congresses; Council and
Executive matters and its membership lists to mention a
few!
If you have not already found our new site, please
go to www.GlobalFamilyDoctor.com
Enjoy the site!
Bruce Sparks, M.D.
President
World Organization of Family Doctors
WONCA
News
FROM THE CEO’S DESK/FROM THE EDITOR
3
3.They will have the privilege of introductions and
contacts as Global Sponsors to all Wonca Member
Organizations for the purpose of determining
mutually beneficial collaborations and other
opportunities that may exist in the country or region.
4.Each year there will be an opportunity for a Global
Sponsor to select and sponsor, in conjunction with
Wonca, a speaker of global standing on a topic
related to ‘The Future of Family Medicine’ at a Wonca
meeting to be organized through the Host Organizing
Committee and Wonca World Secretariat. This may in
the form of dedicated plenary sessions or evening
satellite symposia.
5.Every issue of Wonca News will carry acknow-
ledgements of the Wonca Global Sponsors.
6.Wonca Global Sponsors will be acknowledged on the
Homepage of the Wonca Worldwide Website
(www.globalfamilydoctor.com) with a rollover and
link to the corresponding company website through
an appropriate intervening page.
7.Wonca Global Sponsors will be acknowledged in the
Journal Alerts of Global Family Doctor. These Journal
Alerts are currently being sent directly by e-mail
three times a week to over 4000 recipients world-
wide and the subscribing numbers are increasing
each day.
With these incentives, Wonca hopes that it will
continue to receive greater support for its global
mission from the pharmaceutical and other medical
related companies in the years ahead.
The past triennium has seen Wonca grown not only
in its geographical spread but also in its collaborations
with other medical NGOs and the WHO. These have
demanded increasing degrees of financial commitments
on the part of Wonca to fulfill its role in these collabor-
ations and to service the new Member Organisations.
The limited funds available to Wonca have been one
of the key factors restricting its growth and extent of
collaboration with others.
It is through these mutually beneficial and ethical
sponsorships by the pharmaceutical and medical related
industries of Wonca activities that more can be done to
realize the Global Objectives and Mission of our
Organisation.
Dr Alfred Loh
Chief Executive Officer
World Organization of Family Doctors
FROM THE EDITOR:
PROMOTING EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION,
PRACTICE AND RESEARCH
Family Medicine and the family doctor play a central
role in health systems by providing relevant, quality and
affordable health care services to meet people’s needs.
Promoting excellence in education, practice and research
helps the family doctor to enhance health systems. This
issue of Wonca News features an inspiring array of such
examples.
Feature articles describe Wonca’s efforts to improve
primary care treatment of respiratory conditions as well
as family medicine accreditation, certification and
continuing medical education in the Iberoamerica
region. This issue also reports on regional meetings
already held to enhance primary care research in Europe
and the Asia-Pacific, as well as those broader regional
meetings planned in Kyoto, Japan and the island of Kos,
Greece during 2005. Similarly, this issue reports on
national educational meetings already hosted, such as
the Malta College, or being publicized in our list of
meetings for the family doctor.
As Bruce Sparks describes in his Presidents Column,
the family doctor may find an impressive and ever-
growing list of relevant resources on Wonca’s newly
enhanced website, www.GlobalFamilyDoctor.com (GFD).
Articles by Wonca Publication’s Chair, Geoff Martin, and
Medical Editor, Wes Fabb, GFD provides the family
doctor with additional details about GFD’s resources.
Alfred Loh, in his CEO’s Column, thanks our global
sponsors who have supported GFD.
Wonca’s Committee’s, Working Parties, Special
Interest Groups and Task Forces, as well as 100 member
organizations are most welcome to send me articles
describing how you promote education, practice and
research and, thereby, enhance the role of the family
doctor in health systems. Today, we family doctors can
find many relevant resources through Wonca to enhance
their value in health systems throughout the world. I
hope that we all recognize and take pride in Wonca’s
commitment to promote excellence in education,
practice and research throughout the world.
Marc L. Rivo, MD, MPH
Editor, Wonca News
marcrivo@aol.com
4566 Prairie Avenue
Miami Beach, FL 33140 USA
1-305-674-8839 (fax)
Alma-Ata, promoting ‘Health for All’,
inspired family medicine training in
Spain (1978) and Venezuela (1979),
followed by the Dominican Republic
(1981), Chile (1982), Colombia and
Cuba (1984), Ecuador (1987),
Uruguay (1996) and 1997 (Peru). By
the early 21st century, Family
Medicine was spreading rapidly
throughout Central and South
America.
In May, 2002, leaders from 17
countries gathered in Seville, Spain
in the ‘First Ibero American Summit
of Family Medicine’ to review the
status of family medicine develop-
ment in the region. Their vision of
Family Medicine’s central role in
health care system improvement was
synthesized in the “Declaration of
Seville”.
Following the “Summit of
Seville”, it became clear that
countries wishing to develop and
enhance family medicine in the
region would benefit from some
guidance. As a result, leadership
from the Seville Summit organized
with the Pan American Health
Organization (PAHO), the WHO’s
regional office, the “First Ibero
American Conference of Experts on
the Certification and Accreditation in
Family Medicine”. Meeting in
Margarita Island, Venezuela, over 30
experts from 20 countries in the
region began offered proposals that
they hoped would serve as a guide
for countries wishing to establish
Family Medicine certification,
residency training and continuing
medical education (CME) standards
in Ibero America.
From July to October, 2003, the
experts intensively worked to
elaborate the initial
recommendations into a series of
technical documents which were
published by Wonca Iberoamericana-
CIMF and PAHO. The experts
summarized the 10 major
recommendations organized within
the three major sections of
certification, residency training and
WONCA
News
FEATURE STORIES
4
FEATURE STORIES
WONCA CONTRIBUTES TO
GLOBAL INITIATIVE FOR
LUNG DISEASE
As Wonca’s representative to the
Global initiative for Chronic
Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD), I
attended their 28 - 29 January 2005
meeting in Rome. The aim of GOLD
is to raise awareness of chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease and
promote state of the art diagnosis,
treatment and management. In the
past, GOLD has developed a
guideline that is translated in many
languages. Last year a specification
of the GOLD guideline for primary
care has been published: the
International Primary Care Airways
Guidelines. This also includes the
asthma (GINA) and allergy (ARIA)
initiatives and is based on
respiratory symptoms.
GOLD has a science and
dissemination committee. The main
focus of dissemination is the World
COPD, which will be held in
November, 2005. GOLD has
established a network of (mainly
respiratory medicine based) national
organizers. Through Wonca they
have to be introduced to both FP/GP
contacts in primary care and our
Wonca member organizations.
Wonca has been seen as an
organizational structure in which
COPD awareness can be attained
within a national health care
structure. This will help bring the
focus a bit away from the one day
world awareness day towards
translation of evidenced-based
guidelines into daily health care.
The Wonca world and regional
conferences were seen as a useful
forum to build primary care -
secondary care collaboration on
awareness and state-of-the-art
management. I have promoted the
possibilities of respiratory symposia
during the upcoming Wonca
Regional Conferences in Kos,
Bangkok, Florence, Buenos Aires
and Singapore.
The science committee is
preparing a review of the current
guideline on the basis of new
evidence. A major decision was
taken to invite primary care
membership of the science
committee. In the words of the new
chair of this committee, GOLD has
been paternalistic about primary
care by only inviting it to the
dissemination part of the activities.
Currently, Professor Thys van der
Molen and I from primary care are
members of the GOLD executive and
we have proposed that one of us
will move from dissemination to
science.
The bylaws for GOLD have been
adopted. The bylaws recognize that
important organizations have a
formal representation in GOLD,
including Wonca. I represent Wonca
as a full member on the GOLD
executive committee. Each executive
member is appointed for a term of 4
years, with the possibility of a
second term.
Wonca and its family doctors
have an important role to play in
GOLD and other such chronic
disease initiatives around the world.
Professor Chris van Weel, FRCGP
Wonca President Elect
C.vanWeel@hag.umcn.nl
Ibero Americana-CIMF
Promotes ‘Margarita
Declaration’
Family Medicine began in Ibero
America with the first residency
training program in Mexico in 1971.
Argentina (1972) and Bolivia (1976)
followed. The 1978 Declaration of
WONCA
News
FEATURE STORIES
5
CME into what has become know as
“The Declaration of Margarita”.
The Declaration of Margarita calls
for each country to establish a
minimum set of requirements
concerning the accreditation of
family medicine residency training
programs. Furthermore,
recommendations call for each
county to establish a “National
Inter-institutional Committee of
Medical Residencies”. The
Committee would serve to regulate
and help standardize family
medicine residency training. In
addition, this Committee would be
responsible for regulating the other
medical specialties existing in each
country.
The Declaration of Margarita calls
for each country to establish
certification and recertification
standards for family medicine
specialists, as well as for the other
medical specialties. The recom-
mendations recognize that such
standards should be adapted by
each country given the
competencies of family doctors in
caring for patients, their families
and community and the organization
of health care services. Finally, the
Declaration of Margarita includes
recommendations to develop CME
programs that help family doctors
maintain the abilities and skills in
family medicine.
As Wonca’s newest region,
Iberoamericana-CIMF serves to lead,
coordinate and support family
medicine development among our
member countries. We continue to
look to the “Seville Summitt” and
the Declaration of Margarita to
provide us with the vision and
guidance to expand and enhance
family medicine training, certification
and CME throughout the region.
Dr Adolfo Rubinstein
Regional President,
Wonca Iberoamericana-CIMF
adolfo.rubinstein@hospitalitaliano.org.ar
Dr Javier Dominguez del Olmo
Past Interim Regional President,
Wonca Iberoamericana-CIMF
Wonca Executive Member at Large
javier.dominguez@unfpa.org.mx
(Editor’s note:
Those interested in reviewing the
“Declaration of Margarita” and its
set of technical documents may
download a PDF file from
Iberoamericana-CIMF at:
http://www.cimfweb.org/bn_admin/
include/images/pdf/
Doc_Tec_Ing_.pdf )
Wonca World Council
Issues ‘Call for Humanity’
The Wonca World Council,
meeting in Orlando during October
2004, reaffirmed its principle duty
to care for all people, its strident
opposition to human torture and
genocide, and called upon all
nations of the world to respect the
human rights of men, women and
children.
In response to concerns raised
during the June 2004 Wonca Region
Europe meeting in Amsterdam
about recent reports of human
torture and genocide in many
countries, then President Michael
Boland subsequently issued a
Wonca Executive approved,
“Presidential Statement on the
Victims of Torture”.
During the Wonca World Council
meeting, Dr Bruno Kissling,
representing the Swiss Society of
General Medicine, applauded the
Wonca Presidential Statement and
recommended that the World
Council issue its own ‘Call for
Humanity’ against the use of human
torture and genocide. Wonca World
Council discussions acknowledged
similar, appropriately worded
resolutions by the United Nations,
World Medical Association and the
American Academy of Family
Physicians, on the subject.
Subsequently, the Wonca World
Council reaffirmed its opposition to
human torture and genocide and
issued a ‘call for humanity’. The
wording of the final resolution is as
follows:
“This assembly of the World
Organization of Family Doctors,
meeting in Orlando, from 13 – 18
October 2004:
1. noting that human rights of
individuals and groups globally
are often neglected and infringed
for political reasons and the
concept of humanity is ignored;
2. being conscious that the
shocking examples made evident
through the international media
may only partially reflect the true
extent of this deplorable
practice;
3. being conscious, too, that
human torture and genocide is
practiced in many countries by
state structures, political or
terrorist groups and deeply
concerned about the increasing
trend of destructive and
inhumane behaviour and feeling
that silence on the matter could
be construed as support or
approval of this reprehensible
practice;
4. noting further that physicians are
sometimes involved in such
activities
Declares that Wonca World
following its principal duty to care
for people regardless of age, sex or
any other personal characteristic)
detests these inhuman ideologies
and activities and calls on all
nations to respect the human rights
which apply to all men and women
and children of the world.”
real research data (courtesy of Dr Kamil Mohd Ariff),
with the assistance of experienced facilitators.
The third day (27th Feb) had two themes. The first
part focused on research network issues (chaired by
Dr Zailina and Dr Ng). The lecture “Practice-based
Research Networks: Problems, Barriers, Solutions” by
Prof Chris van Weel, gave examples of how research
networks in the developed countries have made
significant contributions. This was followed by four
Country Reports: Malaysia (Dr Zailina), Singapore
(Assoc Prof LG Goh), Taiwan (Assoc Prof Feng Hwa Lu)
and New Zealand (Assoc Prof Ngaire Kerse); and report
from the WONCA Asia-Pacific Research Steering Group
(Dr Ng CJ). These reports updated the participants on
the progress made in relation to primary care research
in the national and regional level and identified
possible ways to strengthen collaboration in future.
Group photograph of Organizing Committee and speakers
Front row (left to right): Ngaire Kerse, LG Goh, Chris van Weel, CL
Teng, DM Thuraiappah, JT Arokiasamy, Zailinawati AH. Back row (left
to right): Nurjahan MI, CJ Ng, SF Tong, FH Lu, EM Khoo, Sherina MS
Small group biostatistics practical exercise
Foreground: Prof LG Goh and Dr CJ Ng coaching Dr Gun, a participant
WONCA REGIONAL NEWS
RESEARCH NETWORK DEVELOPMENT
HIGH PRIORITY IN ASIA-PACIFIC REGION
The Academy of Family Physicians Malaysia (AFPM)
organized a successful Asia-Pacific Research Network
Development workshop in Awana Hotel, Genting
Highland, Malaysia from 25th to 27th February 2005.
This Asia-Pacific Region workshop, as well as the
previous research meeting in Phuket, Thailand (July
2004), was stimulated by the immense need for primary
care research so eloquently presented in the WONCA
Kingston Conference1 (March 2003). A few Malaysian
delegates who participated in the Phuket meeting
managed to attract other like-minded primary care
colleagues to form the Malaysian Primary Care Research
Group (MPCRG) as a special interest group within the
AFPM. The Awana meeting was the third research
meeting organized by MPCRG in conjunction with the
AFPM.
The workshop’s Organizing Committee and
facilitators included Associate Professor CL Teng (chair),
Dr CJ Ng (co-chair), Dr Zailinawati, Associate Professor
EM Khoo, Dr Sherina Mohd Sidik, Dr SF Tong, Dr Kamil
Mohd Ariff, Associate Professor Nurjahan Mohd Ibrahim,
and Dr Nik Sherina Haidi Hanafi. The Organizing
Committee was supported by: Dr MK Rajakumar, Adjunct
Professor Dato’ Dr Thuraiappah, Professor YC Chia,
Professor LG Goh, Professor Chris van Weel, and
Professor John Arokiasamy. Funding support was
provided by Pfizer, MSD, Sonofi-Aventis, Norvatis, Bayer
and MMA Foundation.
The choice of venue was the cool hill resort of
Genting Highland, a short driving distance from Kuala
Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia. In spite of the short
notice, we had attracted 61 participants, 11 of whom
came from 7 other countries. The Welcome Dinner on
the 25th February provided a great opportunity for
participants to renew old ties and forge new friendships.
The second day (26th Feb) was devoted entirely to
biostatistics – a problematic area for many primary care
researchers. The participants found the relearning of
biostatistics can be rather painless - the lectures on
basic biostatistics by Prof John Arokiasamy (Melaka-
Manipal Medical College) had succeeded in explaining
very clearly some difficult statistical concepts. They had
enjoyed tremendously the small group practical
exercises using SPSS (courtesy of SPSS Malaysia) and
WONCA
News
REGIONAL NEWS
6
WONCA
News
REGIONAL NEWS
7
The second part focused on
medical writing (chaired by Assoc
Prof EM Khoo). The lecture by Prof
LG Goh “Medical Writing: Why are
manuscripts rejected?” gave many
useful tips to the budding medical
writers. This was followed by a
panel discussion where views from
experienced researchers and
members of editorial boards
(Prof Chris van Weel, Prof John
Arokiasamy, Prof LG Goh, Assoc Prof
Ngaire Kerse, and Assoc Prof CL
Teng) were shared with the
delegates.
At the end of this workshop, the
participants had given positive
feedback that many useful lessons
in the research process were gained.
The success of this workshop
boosted the confidence of the
Organizing Committee a great deal
and made us seriously considering
organizing future workshops.
However, the problem with funding
and the sustainability of regional
meeting focusing only on research
are issues that should be
deliberated further.
1.van Weel C, Rosser WW (ed).
Improving Health Globally and
the Need for Primary Care
Research: Report of the Wonca
Kingston Conference. Ann Fam
Med 2004;2(Suppl)
Reported by:
CL Teng (tengcl@imu.edu.my)
CJ Ng (ngcj@um.edu.my)
Zailinawati AH
(zailina@nasioncom.net)
EM Khoo (khooem@um.edu.my)
Photographs were taken by
Dr WS Chen
EGPRN Sets General
Practice Research
Priorities in Europe
The European General Practice
Research Network (EGPRN), the core
research network of WONCA Europe,
decided a few years ago to work on
a General Practice Research Agenda
closely collaborating with the
WONCA Executive Board and
Council. To that purpose this
network organized a brainstorming
session during its 2002 autumn
meeting in Bled, Slovenia, with the
aim of exploring the views of active
European general practice
researchers on needs and priorities
as well as barriers for GP research in
Europe.
An article, published in the
October issue 2004 of Family
Practice, reports on the findings of
that EGPRN workshop. A total of 43
persons (19 female) from 18
European countries replied to an
invitation to attend a brief
workshop. The participants formed
seven groups to discuss the
following questions; (1) what major
topics or content do you think
should be included in a research
agenda in general practice in your
country?; and (2) What are the
barriers to adequate implementation
of general practice research in your
country?
Based upon the participant
discussions, the “research content”
was categorized into seven groups
according to research domain
(health services research, public
health, clinical issues, specific
research questions, specific research
methods, quality improvement and
educational research). The “barriers
to research” were categorized into
five groups (health care system
politics, academic infrastructure,
research training and research
networks). Research on clinical
issues and diagnostic tools was
mentioned most often as an
important priority. A general
consensus emerged on the need for
research on education and teaching.
Six groups mentioned both
priorities. Insufficient financial
resources were found to be the
commonest obstacle to effective
general practice research
(mentioned by 6 groups). Three
groups mentioned the need for a
proper electronic medical record as
a key priority.
The findings of this study could
be used as a starting point for
national checklists of content, and
conditions of general practice
research. EGPRN is planning to
make an inventory of the scientific
expertise, orientation, research
strategies and agendas of
departments and institutes of
general practice across Europe.
Professor Christos Lionis
EGPRN Vice President
lionis@galinos.med.uoc.gr
(Editor’s note: For further
information, please read, C. Lionis,
HEJH Stoffers, E. Hummers - Pradier,
F. Griffiths, D. Rotar - Pavlic, JJ
Rethans. Setting priorities and
identifying for general practice
research in Europe. Results from an
EGPRN meeting. Family Practice
2004; 21:587-593)
