Education scheme for doctors

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34043, 6 January 1976, Page 14

Education scheme for doctors

\n education scheme, designed to meet the needs of busy general practitioners, trainee interns, and house surgeons, has been announced by the chairman of council of the New Zealand College of General Practitioners (Dr J. P. Musgrove).

The continuous, postgraduate scheme is called the C.H.E.C.K. programme of selfassessment. C.H.E.C.K. (continuous home evaluation of clinical knowledge) consists of a series of question-and-answer papers that cover all aspects of family medicine. Dr Musgrove said that the family doctor was expected to absorb ever-increasing volumes of information on new methods of diagnosis and treatment, and he had very little spare time in which to do this. The main advantage of C.H.E.C.K. was that doctors did not have to take time off from their practice to participate. All information, case studies, questions and answers were at their finger tips. It was developed and used I successfully by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, he said. Each of the assignments is based on case studies which

I have been selected by general: practitioners to represent; [typical situations that might! [be commonly encountered in [the course of general prac-i lice. The assignments, with sub-] sidiary material, case histor-* ies, and source references, will be sent every alternate month and free of charge to all general practitioners throughout New' Zealand. The scheme will be evaluated after one year, and if usage is high it is probable that in 1977 the scheme will

be extended to include house surgeons, registrars, and sixth-year medical students. The scheme will be sponsored by Frosst-M.S.D., a pharmaceutical company.