[Spanish medical students and Family Medicine. Data from the two phases of a national questionnaire]. / Los estudiantes de medicina españoles y la medicina de familia. Datos de las 2 fases de una encuesta estatal.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the perceptions and expectations about Family Practice (FP) and Primary Care (PC) in 1st, 3rd and 5th year students in medical schools. DESIGN: An observational study in two cross sections with intervals of two years. LOCATION: Spanish Medical Schools. PARTICIPANTS: 1st, 3rd and 5th year students of 22 schools (1st phase) and 15 (second phase). PRIMARY MEASUREMENTS: Self-report questionnaires completed during the first quarter of the 2009-2010 and 2011-2012 academic years. It had 70 items in three blocks: perceptions of FP (19 items), training in FP (26 items), expectations and preferences (25 items), plus 13 specific items for 3rd and 5th year students. Most of the items were answered in a 6 point Likert scale. RESULTS: A total of 5299 responses in phase I, and 3869 in phase II were received. Students perceive FP and PC as essential areas of the health system and professional practice, but with little scientific and technical appeal. The large majortiy, 87%, consider training in FP necessary and compulsory, and it should start in third year. They prefer hospital medical specialities (88-89%), followed by surgical and paediatrics. FP is preferred by the 37-39%. Only between 24% and 28% of students have a clear preference for a specialty when they start medical studies. CONCLUSIONS: FP and PC are key areas and should be part of the curriculum, but are perceived to be of low scientific appeal.

[Reliability of a questionnaire used in the long-term follow up of the opinion and perceptions of family medicine by medical students of the University of Zaragoza (Spain)]. / Fiabilidad de un cuestionario empleado para la aplicación en el seguimiento longitudinal de la opinión y percepciones de la medicina de familia de los estudiantes de medicina de la Universidad de Zaragoza.

AIM: Family medicine deals with certain aspects and perspectives that are often left behind in the training of other levels of care, thus the need for medical students to make contact with Primary Care is of increasing importance. The aim of this study is to evaluate the reliability of the questionnaire of the UNIMEDIFAM group (FIS PI070975) for the long-term outcome of expectations and knowledge about family medicine. DESIGN: Reliability of a questionnaire. SETTING: University of Zaragoza. PARTICIPANTS: 371 students from the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 6th years. METHOD: The internal consistency of the questionnaire was determined using Cronbach's alpha coefficient, and the stability using the test-retest. RESULTS: On scale A of the questionnaire we found that three of 19 items were unstable, in 8 of 26 on scale B, and 3 of 38 items on scale C. The Cronbach's alpha value of scale A was 0.722, 0.861 on scale B, and 0,663 on scale C. CONCLUSIONS: The 3 scales are within the appropriate values, except scale C, which is very close. The findings of this validation process can serve as a reference that may be extrapolated to the UNIMEDIFAM national questionnaire.

[Family Medicine and university in Spain: initial reflections from a national research project]. / Medicina de Familia y universidad en España: reflexiones iniciales a partir de un proyecto de investigación estatal.

In 2006, a national research project was initially designed in Spain, with the basic aim of analysing the level of information on Primary Care that is available to medical students, their perception of the role of family medicine in the health system, and professional practice preferences, as well as the opinion expressed on the usefulness and need of specific teaching on primary care and family medicine during undergraduate studies. A questionnaire was prepared for each of the Spanish Faculties of Medicine to gather quantitative and qualitative data on the current situation on the teaching of primary care and family medicine. In this article, we give a short description of the characteristics of the project, the principle data obtained with this first questionnaire and, importantly, the first reflections on the academic situation of Family Medicine in Spain.

[Formative evaluation: experience of the Catalonian family and community medicine teaching units]. / Valoración formativa: experiencia de las unidades docentes de medicina familiar y comunitaria de Cataluña.

The purpose of this article is to report on the experience in formative evaluation that was carried out in the Catalonian family and community medicine teaching units during the years 2001-2007. This formative evaluation project included the use of several evaluation tools such as, self-listening, video-recording, structured observation of clinical practice, cases by computer and simulated patients. Different resident intakes have participated in the development of the project, as well as their teaching unit tutors and coordinators. This accumulated experience has allowed it to progress into the field of formative evaluation, and to adapt and integrate the activities that were being carried out in a resident portfolio, which in our opinion is the best tool for the formative evaluation of the family medicine resident.