General Practice as an Academic Discipline

Overview

The aim of the article is to show emerging changes in the health care, which will require some adaptation of curriculaof medical faculties. It also considers the role of general practice in those changes and it emphasizes the potentialof general practice for the undergraduate medical education and for the primary care research. Three questions arediscussed: What can the subject of general practice offer to medical faculties? What can the medical faculties do forthe general practice?At universities, the discipline “General practice” should become, similarly to the real health care, the first bridgebetween books and the live human. At higher classes, it should represent a clinical field with its position in the healthcare system, with its definition and characteristics.Similarly to other countries, general practice should offer all attributes of a medical branch for the full accomplishmentof medicals, including their scientific work and teaching. It would require further developing of its academicbasis. Society will be then awarded with higher quality of medical care offered by general practitioners.

Key words:
general practice, undergraduate medical education, undergraduate curriculum, primary care research,postgraduate student.