Use of audio-visual aids and case studies to enhance understanding of family medicine among medical students.

Teaching family medicine to medical students is primarily intended to aid in their understanding of the distinctive and significant role that the speciality performs within the healthcare system. Improving medical students' comprehension of family medicine may have an impact on their decision to pursue family medicine as a speciality. It is important to use innovative evidence-based teaching and learning strategies and ensure that medical students receive extra learning opportunities in family medicine. This is a short report highlighting the use of audio-visual aids and case studies to enhance the understanding of family medicine principles among undergraduate medical students attending a private university in Ghana.Contribution: This short report offers family medicine teachers and educators at the undergraduate level an example of how to apply audio-visual aids and case studies to enhance the understanding of family medicine principles among students. The report contributes to the growth of family medicine as a speciality within the African context.

The contribution of family physicians to chronic disease management through continuity of care in Ghana.

Chronic non-communicable diseases contribute significantly to Ghana's disease burden. Ghana's ability to achieve universal health coverage is threatened by the rising burden of chronic non-communicable diseases. There is a high unmet need for cardiovascular diseases care, with primary health care for cardiovascular diseases not being readily available, equitable, or sensitive to the requirements of target populations. The contribution of family physicians in the management of the chronic disease burden through care continuity cannot be overemphasised. This is a short report of the implementation of a chronic care clinic by a family physician in Manna Mission Hospital, which is located in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. Before the implementation, there was no such clinic in the hospital and patients with chronic conditions who visited the facility were sometimes lost to follow-up. The clinic which commenced in January 2019 has provided care for patients with chronic non-communicable diseases to date. The most common chronic diseases managed at the clinic include hypertension and heart failure, diabetes, stroke, asthma, sickle cell disease, and joint disorders. This report gives an account of the contribution of family physicians to chronic disease burden management through continuity of care in a low-resource setting like Ghana.