Abstract
We appreciate the thoughtful response “Unveiling Medical Students’ Affinity for Family and Community Medicine in Spain” from our colleagues in Spain regarding our study.1 We are grateful for the opportunity to engage in a constructive dialogue concerning the motivations and concerns that influence young doctors’ decisions to pursue a career in Family Medicine. Understanding insights into the determinants that impact medical students’ selection of family medicine holds paramount importance. We would like to address several key points raised in their letter.
Firstly, the authors rightly emphasize the impact of the local healthcare system and the organization of primary healthcare centers on young doctors’ motivations. As Olid et al.2 Have noted, most medical schools in Spain still lack mandatory core courses in family medicine similar to Turkiye, as demonstrated in our study. As highlighted by the authors, the impact of the educational environment and the hidden curriculum cannot be underestimated. To enhance the appeal of family medicine as a career choice, it is important to transform it into a respected academic discipline and elevate its standing and conditions within the healthcare system. We believe that there is a need for a new type of primary health care center that embraces everyone, touches each individual positively, has a biophilic structure design, is resistant to disasters, and prioritizes education and health. These new workplaces will also contribute to the prestige of family medicine in society and can be motivating for the employees and medical students who will prefer it.3
The diversity of clinical cases encountered in primary care is an important aspect that attracts medical students to this specialty. Family physicians act as gatekeepers, coordinating directions when necessary by providing a wide range of services including prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of common diseases. Moreover, family physicians utilize a holistic approach when treating patients and they are the most effective physician group in coordinating therapy, as they provide conti-nuous, longitudinal, and comprehensive medical care to the individual. On the other hand, the time constraint is one of the main problems in managing the therapy of patients for family physicians.4
Additionally, a strong referral system is vital for efficient healthcare and resource use in primary care. Without a clear referral process from primary to specialist care, patients can enter the healthcare system at any point they choose. Contrary to many European countries, Turkiye has not yet established a referral chain system. As the number of family physicians who have received specialization training in Turkiye increases, the quality of the service provided and the efficiency of implementing the referral chain will increase. The good functioning of the referral chain system may have many positive contributions to the health system, as well as significant negative effects such as an increase in the workload of primary care physicians. Technological tools can
be developed as a solution to the clinician’s time constraints, increased workload, and consequently increased preference by medical students. In the case of polypharmacy, fastrational.com can be given as an example of artificial intelligence-supported technological tools, which accelerates the detection of drug interaction with its bibliographies and enables the physician to fulfill the preventive medicine duty.5
Details
| Primary Language | English |
|---|---|
| Subjects | Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine (Other) |
| Journal Section | Letter To The Edıtor |
| Authors | |
| Publication Date | October 2, 2023 |
| Published in Issue | Year 2023 |