Improving the quality of primary health care

THE FAMILY Medicine Postgraduate programme is offered by the Department of Community Health and Psychiatry at the University of the West Indies Mona Campus. The overall aim of the programme is to improve the quality of primary health care by producing family physicians who deliver high quality comprehensive and continuous personal medical care to individuals and their families within a community context.

The programme offers training at two levels. A two-year postgraduate diploma in family medicine seeks to hone and enhance the clinical knowledge, skills and attitudes essential for a primary-care family doctor. The specialist four-year doctor of medicine in family medicine programme (including the two diploma years) continues to build these skills and adds skills in health management and research. The graduate is a consultant level family medicine specialist.

Family physicians treat both individuals and the entire family, ranging from children to adults, and in time, they come to know a person’s family history and dynamics. By choosing a family medicine physician, an individual gains a medical professional who focuses on all aspects of life and significantly influences well-being.

The family medicine programme collaborates with the Caribbean College of Family Physicians and the Association of General Practitioners of Jamaica to build the specialty of family medicine in Jamaica.