gms | German Medical Science

During the last 10 years the Family Medicine Department of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy ”Victor Babes” of Timisoara has developed a number of 14 programs to improve the general practitioners knowledge and abilities to manage common cardiology problems. At these programs we had 1132 participants from different counties as Timis, Caras-Severin, Arad and Hunedoara.

General practitioners interacted with patients, followed by group discussions conducted by a tutor. By using checklists, the tutor assessed the participant’s cardiology skills in interviewing, physical examination and counseling of the patient. Participants discussed then the clinical cases in small groups and reviewed their performance. The small group session was followed by a discussion with a cardiologist who made a state of art diagnostic and treatment of the case.

All the participants completed at the end of the program questionnaires regarding improvement of their cardiology skills and program acceptance. Data analysis obtained from questionnaires showed that the general practitioners considered to be better prepared to deal with cardiology problems after completing our program in comparison with traditional teaching methods as cardiology courses, used in continuing medical education. We were also able to demonstrate great acceptance of the program and attitudinal improvement toward cardiology issues.