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SLOVAKIA

Undergraduate education

There are still no Departments of General practice and Family medicine at two, out of four, Medical schools in Slovakia, although the teaching of General practice and Family medicine became a compulsory part of undergraduate educational at all Slovak Medical Schools. At those Medical schools, where none Department of GP/FM is established, teaching of GP is provided by the Internal medicine Departments. General practitioners are involved in the practical part of teaching - medical students are obliged to spend at least one week at an accredited primary care teaching practice.

Postgraduate education

Duration of the Specific trainig for General Practice is 3 years. Every new graduated doctor, who has decided to become a GP, has to spend at least two years in various hospital and polyclinic departments (1 year Internal medicine, 3-4 months Surgery and Traumatology, 1-2 months ENT, Emergency, Dermatology, Neurology, Urology, Psychiatry or Gynecology, etc.). There is also a request for spending 6 months in a Teaching practice, but the lack of teaching practices is the reason why the last mentioned condition is in many cases not fulfilled in practice. The process of accreditation of teching practices is in progress, so finaly also the stay in a teaching practice is slowly becoming a reality.

Continuous Medical Education

CME is based on: "CREDIT POINT SYSTEM CME IN GENERAL PRACTICE". It was introduced in January 1998, as an iniciative of Slovak Association of Private Physicians. Later on it was accepted and supported by SPAM (Slovak Postgraduate Academy of Medicine), institution responsible for whole postgraduate medical education in Slovakia as well as by the MOH. CME is now accepted with real respect.

Courses and lectures, organised by 1/ SPAM in Bratislava, 2/ Regional medical educational bodies or 3/ Pharmaceutical companies, are bonused with certain number of credit poits.

GP's are obliged to prove the attendance of educational activities by collecting certain number of credit points (200 points per year). The evaluation is in the competence of elected representatives of the Regional Medical Chamber and is provided every 5 years as "recertification". Recertification is one of the conditions for renovation of GP's contract with the Health insurance companies.

Courses organised for CME are mainly focused on 1/ Practice management, 2/ Health financing, 3/ Cost effective drug prescription, 4/ Primary care development, 5/ Introduction of new diagnostic and treatment guidelines and 6/ Clinical practice.

Health care

Total lack of money is the permanent problem of our health care. The explanation would bee difficult and complicated.