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ISRAEL

There has been renewed activity in family medicine education all over the country in the past six months with more official recognition of our efforts. There are now 11 post-graduate departments in the country with the newest department established within the framework of the Israel Defence Forces. All HMO's now have a department of general practice.

BME

In Jerusalem the medical school has added a final year elective in family medicine in addition to the compulsory clerkship for students. This along with the elective in family medicine that is possible in the internship year is seen as a good way to recruit interested students into VT.

In Tel Aviv the rotation in family medicine in the American program at Sackler is enjoying increased popularity among medical students. Investment in faculty development and the improved weekly student seminars are seen as reasons for the positive change. An ongoing research project will document the changes in student attitudes to family medicine.

VT

Recognition of the new post-graduate departments has improved our status across the country although Jerusalem is still fighting to open new places to accept new trainees. The existing trainees in Jerusalem are making their presence felt by running academic courses in CME for their more senior colleagues in the city on topics like medical computing, alternative medicine, and spoken medical Russian for physicians.

Tel Aviv enjoyed success in the recent specialty board exams in March with a 100% pass rate and one candidate with a rare grade of Distinction. Faculty development in Tel Aviv has focussed on a Balint group for residency trainers to improve their teaching skills by promoting self-reflection.

Nationally the residency programs are enjoying a flowering of research activities by trainees. This requires an investment in supervision of projects and research skills training for the trainers.

CME

The recent scientific congress of the Israel Association of Family Physicians was held in Be'er Sheva. A large number of original research presentations and teaching workshops impressed the crowd of 400 family doctors and strengthened our esprit de corps.

This month another national conference held at the Dead Sea discussed a plan to strengthen research in family medicine. We enjoyed the support of Chris Van Weel who presented the Dutch model for research support which involves a heavy investment in research education at all levels.