Authors (including presenting author) :
Chan YYY (1), Chan YH(1), Tsui F(1), Liang J(1), Ng YS(1)
Affiliation :
(1) Department of Family Medicine & Primary Health Care, New Territories West Cluster, Hospital Authority
Introduction :
With the establishment of the Primary Healthcare Blueprint, Hong Kong (HK) aims to provide accessible and comprehensive healthcare services, to improve the overall health of the population. Therefore, the increasing demand for well-trained family physician is inevitable. The HK Hospital Authority (HA) is the main site for Family medicine training. As part of the training during the medical school in both University of HK and the Chinese University of HK, medical students have a one-week placement programme at training centres within the HA’s primary care settings. The placement programme provided at NTWC FM & PC includes an introduction presentation on the FM training, supervised sit-it consultation, and attachment to various primary care multi-disciplinary clinical activities. However, it is not well acknowledged whether the programme meets the expectations of the students and their requisite for a family physician.
Objectives :
This study aims to determine whether the students perceive the programme as beneficial in various areas, enhance their understanding of primary care and encourage them in choosing FM as their career.
Methodology :
Medical students who were involved in the placement programme at NTWC from January to November 2024, completed a 6 questions’ identical survey at the beginning and at the end of the programme. A 5-point scale was used to measure the survey's feedback. The survey ranges from questions on consultation skills to understanding the roles of nurses and allied health in primary care, and their consideration for FM as their future career. The pre and post differences were calculated to determine any significant differences.
Result & Outcome :
A total of 49 medical students completed the survey with a 100% response rate. The pre- and post-scores for each questions showed significant improvements with p value < 0.001 in all aspects. For consultation skills, the mean score increased from 3.39 to 4.12. Understanding of nursing roles improved from 3.37 to 4.35. Inter-professional collaboration scores rose from 3.31 to 4.29. Comfort in managing mood problems increased from 3.20 to 3.92. Understanding of patient-centered care went from 3.69 to 4.41. Finally, consideration for FM as their future career rose from 3.08 to 3.50.
This study demonstrated the importance of a well-structured training programme in not only enlightening the students' understanding of primary care but also enhances their consideration in choosing FM as their career.
