Core Values of Family Physicians and General Practitioners in the African Context.

Introduction: Family Medicine is a growing specialty in the medical world. While it is expected that the specialty should have its own unique and established core values and tasks, the breath of the practice in several countries of the world has made this a daunting task. Core values and Tasks have far reaching effects on professions. They guide development of curricula, methods of instruction, standards of performance and even the culture of the profession. We aimed to explore the core value system of Family Physicians and General Practitioners practicing in Africa. Methods: Using the Delphi technique, a purposive selection of African Family Medicine practitioners in academia, public service, private practice and clinical training across Central, East, North, South and West Africa was conducted. Participants were asked to select five core values from an alphabetically collated global list of 29 core values in an online survey. The five most selected core values were collated and sent out in the second round to the participants to rank in order of importance. Results: Practitioners from nine African countries in three out of the five United Nations subregions of Africa completed the study. The first round of the study saw participation of a team of nineteen experts who selected the following five core values-Comprehensive care, Continuity of Care, Collaborative Care, Patient centered care, and Life-long learning. Discussion/Conclusion: The core values selected were not very different from global literature. These core values should guide the development of curricula, standardization of training methods and creation of benchmarks for standards of practice for the specialty in Africa.

Five Years Of Family Medicine Undergraduate Education In Ghana: A Wake-Up Call!

OBJECTIVES: Given the introduction in 2008 of undergraduate family medicine in the University of Ghana, the study aimed to identify the perceptions of medical students in Ghana about family medicine with regard to knowledge and relevance as well as specialty preferences. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey. METHOD: Investigators conducted yearly surveys of first clinical year students at the University of Ghana School of Medicine and Dentistry over a 5-year period (2008-2012) using a semi-structured questionnaire. Data was analysed using the first class group as baseline for comparison. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Trends in respondents' awareness of different aspects of family medicine, their attitudes towards the specialty and their expressed preference or lack of preference for family medicine as a potential specialty for themselves. RESULTS: Over the five-year period, 748 of 893 eligible first year students participated which comprised 84% of students. Awareness of family medicine as a medical specialty remained high but insignificantly declined over the period of study (88% to 80%, p=0.058). Preference for family medicine as career choice remained low at 4%, but an increase from 2% baseline though insignificant (p=0.397). The primary reason for not listing family medicine as career choice was unfamiliarity with the specialty (80%). CONCLUSION: Although awareness of family medicine among medical students in Ghana remains relatively high, their knowledge is insufficient to influence their career decisions for family medicine. This is a wake-up call! FUNDING: None declared.

Rotavirus Infection in Children with Diarrhea at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Ghana.

Human rotavirus infection was studied over a 13-month period (January 2004 to January 2005) in children <5 years of age admitted with severe diarrhea at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Ghana. During this period, 206 hospitalizations for diarrhea were recorded, with 34.0% (70/206) being positive for rotavirus infection. Infection occurred throughout the year, with peak rotavirus infection occurring during the month of March. Hospitalization associated with rotaviruses was most common in the 6-8 month age group. The case fatality rate of rotavirus infection was 2.9% (2/70) and occurred in children <12 months of age. Four rotavirus VP7 genotypes (G1, G2, G3, and G9) were detected. The predominant genotypes were G2 (22.9%), G1 (17.1%), G9 (17.1%) and G3 (12.9%). Mixed G types were also detected. The predominant VP4 genotypes (P types) were P[6] (38.6%), P[8] (21.4%), P[4] (4.3%) and P[9] (1.4%). The predominant rotavirus strains infecting children in Accra were G9P[6] (10.0%) and G1P[8] (8.6%). Strains with unusual genotypes such as G2P[8] and G(2/3)P[6] were also detected.