KEEPING HONG KONG FIT AND WELL - HKU Li Ka Shing Faculty ...

1. Primary Care Research Leadership workshop
2. Family Medicine Junior Clerkship
3. Family Medicine Specialty Clerkship – Community Family Medicine Clinic
Placement
The unit was restructured to the Department of Family
Medicine and Primary Care in October 2010. This was
a significant move. Being an independent academic
department enhanced visibility, Professor Lam noted, and
facilitated collaboration and discussion with government, nongovernment
organisations and international universities. The
Department also greatly expanded its capacity, increasing to
a team of over 40 staff. As the Convenor of the Food and
Health Bureau’s Task Force on Primary Care Directory, Professor
Lam said she was encouraged to see the role of primary care
doctors increasingly recognised.
MEDICAL EDUCATION
On the education front, the Department provides both
undergraduate and postgraduate medical education
programmes. “We were the first in the Faculty to introduce
problem-based learning to undergraduate teaching,
an important step leading to the MBBS curriculum reform in
1997,” Professor Lam said. “Our Department focuses not
only on knowledge but also on skills and attitude. Apart
from family medicine and general practice, we also emphasise
a great deal of teaching on generic skills of being a doctor,
including consultation, clinical interpersonal communication,
and hypothetical deductive problem solving. We aim to teach
our students to diagnose and manage patients’ problems in
the most efficient and empathetic way.” To enhance students’
exposure in primary care clinical settings, the Department’s
teaching clinics include the Ap Lei Chau general outpatient
department as well as 20 core family medicine teaching
centres and over 100 family practice attachment sites.
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Currently, family medicine and related programmes are
incorporated into all five years of the MBBS curriculum,
including the clinical visit programme, clinical interpersonal
skills programme, family medicine junior clerkship and family
medicine specialty clerkship.
“We also offer two postgraduate diplomas in community
psychological medicine and community geriatrics, and some
certificate courses, to enhance practitioners’ knowledge and
management of patients in the community. Students are
not confined to primary care doctors. Traditional Chinese
Medicine practitioners have also participated in parts of these
courses.”
RESEARCH, COLLABORATION AND INNOVATIVE
CLINICAL SERVICES
As a research-intensive department, the Department’s studies
focus on four themes: primary healthcare services; healthrelated
quality of life; medical education; and mental health.
“To build evidence and knowledge to support our practice,
we conduct person-centred and health services research.
This involves the study and evaluation of patients in a real
healthcare setting. Being a broad-based discipline, we also
play an active role in interdisciplinary, inter-faculty, and interinstitutional
collaborations in research, both locally and
internationally,” Professor Lam said.
As patient-reported outcomes and quality of life are relevant
to many different fields, the Department has collaborated
in research projects with different disciplines, such as public
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MEDICAL FACULTY NEWS 3