amily medicine is a medical specialty within primary care that involves patient care or, rather, continuity of care from the cradle to the grave. Providing holistic, compassionate care as a whole-person approach is the fundamental principle of family medicine. It is important to preserve these concepts and promote them. One way of achieving this is through the inclusion of family medicine in the undergraduate curriculum.

Medical students exposed to this discipline at an undergraduate level will get a feel for what it is like working in a community-based setting and get a chance to interact with the population. A family physician functions in many ways and not only deals with primary and secondary prevention and management of long-term conditions but is also involved with multidisciplinary teams.

Moreover, family physicians handle diverse health problems, manage health inequalities and have an active role as patient advocates. In terms of the level of awareness about family medicine, published surveys have not shown promising results. Lack of awareness about this discipline remains the top reason for its low uptake.

According to one survey conducted in Pakistan in 2020 involving approximately 500 final-year medical students from various medical colleges, 14.3 per cent were aware of the discipline of family medicine; 18 per cent said they would opt for it as a career.

A study in Karachi in 2021 reported that only two per cent of medical graduates would select FM as their profession. To empower newly graduating doctors it is necessary to give the undergraduates a flavour of what being a primary care physician is.

Based on the skills required to provide safe and effective patient care as frontline services provider, a primary care competency framework must be incorporated into the medical curriculum.

The content and process of teaching must be organised around the principles of family medicine. Little will be achieved without having an insight or deep understanding of these principles. Educational activities must be designed around developing clinical knowledge and its application. Various general practice consultation models focus on understanding patient’s viewpoint using ICE (idea-concerns-expectations). An understanding of these general practice consultation models is important.

Family physicians handle diverse health problems, manage health inequalities and have an active role as patient advocates. 

Incorporating ICE in medical advice leads to better decision-making, shared patient management and better health outcomes.

Family medicine as a mandatory subject in undergraduate curriculum has already been notified by Pakistan Medical and Dental Council in 2014. However, the decision has not been universally implemented.

The decision makers must consider reforms in undergraduate teachings and trainings. Both theoretical and practical methods of teaching must be used and practicing GPs and family medicine academia included in the faculty. Modern methods of teaching, as opposed to traditional formats, must be given proper weight.

All medical colleges must offer primary care/ family medicine/ general practice clinical rotations in addition to hospital rotations in order to increase awareness about the discipline among undergraduates. More graduating students will then be attracted towards this specialty.

Undergraduate medical education profoundly affects higher medical education and clinical practices; hence, reforms in existing undergraduate family medicine curricula from systems-based to principle-based content are paramount. In addition, increasing the existing teaching duration for better coverage of the family medicine curriculum will help address the diminishing interest among graduating students.

Additionally, family medicine teaching faculty must be included in national curriculum development committees and their opinion sought in relation to its delivery methods. Effective teaching strategies that are primary care-focused must be developed. Guidance must be available on medical ethics. Joint teaching in collaboration with specialists to cover broad themes must also be explored. The family medicine discipline can contribute immensely in strengthening a country’s healthcare system. It must get the recognition it deserves.

The writer is an associate professor in family medicine at Health Services Academy, Islamabad