Primary healthcare has been embedded in all of HKUMed’s professional programmes for some years now. But with its greater prominence in Hong Kong’s healthcare system, the Faculty wants to emphasise the importance of primary healthcare in students’ future careers. ‘Our main mission is, number one, to promote awareness of primary care over secondary hospital-based care among our students. And number two, to enhance their competencies for managing patients who do not need hospitalisation. There has been an overreliance on hospital care, which is unsustainable,’ said Associate Dean (Teaching & Learning) Professor Gilberto Leung Ka-kit, who is Education Co-convenor of the CPHC with the Assistant Dean (Student Wellness & Engagement) Professor Julie Chen Yun. HKUMed offers a sevenweek family medicine clerkship in the MBBS and has introduced placements for second-year preclinical students in DHCs where they engage with patients receiving preventive and rehabilitative care. Nursing, Pharmacy and Chinese Medicine also train students in community settings (including the new HKUMed Community Pharmacy). ‘We now want to signpost these provisions and promote a culture change across all specialist departments to make everyone more aware of how primary care can help with prevention and in managing certain conditions such as diabetes,’ said Professor Leung. Professor Chen stated that the newly formed working group on undergraduate primary healthcare education seeks to make the existing substantial provisions more explicit and connected within each of the professional programmes, while ensuring that students are not overburdened. ‘One of our immediate hoped-for outcomes is that students will be inspired by family medicine. Maybe they will decide to specialise in it or, at least, they will have a better understanding of how they can work together with doctors in family medicine and primary care to provide continuous, seamless care for patients.’ Technology also plays a key role, with students being trained in telemedicine so they can conduct tele-consultations effectively and ethically, as well as point-of-care ultrasound which can be used in family medicine to help with diagnosis before expensive tests are considered. Self-monitoring technology that can be used by patients, such as a new software developed by Professor Joshua Ho Wing-kei in the School of Biomedical Sciences that turns an ordinary mobile phone into a medical-grade stethoscope to detect heart disease, will also be important in future. ‘Responsible application of advanced technologies in healthcare could empower patients to take ownership of their health,’ Professor Leung said. Professor Chen added that they have convened a multidisciplinary team that has submitted a proposal for a common core course on primary healthcare and AI, aiming at educating students about their potential to improve people’s health and their own health. Signposting a Culture Change ←Professor Gilberto Leung Ka-kit (left) and Professor Julie Chen Yun X 21 HKUMed News Winter 2024
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