Who is the Department of Family Medicine?

The Department of Family Medicine is committed to and supports a holistic and family practice-orientated approach to training medical doctors, equipped to render a high-quality primary healthcare service, both in the private and public health sectors of South Africa. Personnel of the department are involved with training at both undergraduate and post-graduate level.

What we believe in

We believe in a holistic, family practice-orientated approach. Future general practitioners and doctors in primary healthcare should be advocates for their patients and have a diversity of skills.

We aim to develop skills in:

• counselling;
• effective communication;
• ethical behaviour; and
• interpersonal relations and a team approach.

 

Our goal is to be safe first contact physicians. To achieve this doctors, must be skilled at emergency care and treatment. Doctors working in rural areas should have the clinical practical skills to function as first contact physicians skilled at performing surgical, obstetrical, and emergency procedures of high quality.

Our goal is the training and professional development of doctors. To develop doctors for South Africa that can function and compete in any global healthcare setting. Evidence-based medicine, practice-based research and continuous professional development of doctors are our major objectives. We accept the challenge to be part of the development of an equitable, affordable healthcare system for South Africa.

Our goal is to be a world-class department of Family Medicine. To provide quality and holistic primary healthcare (services); to provide appropriate training to healthcare professionals; and, to apply research to enable a healthy and self-reliant community in the Free State and beyond.

Mission

Our mission - within the framework of the general mission of the university and the Faculty of Health Sciences and the School of Clinical Medicine - is to:

• provide excellent, relevant and cost-effective training in the field of Family Medicine at both undergraduate and post-graduate level, as well as continued education of the Family Medicine corps;
• undertake, support and encourage active research in the field of Family Medicine; and
• provide and/or further Family Medicine based service in accordance with principles of primary healthcare to the community served by the academic hospital complex of Bloemfontein.  

Objectives

The objectives of the Department of Family Medicine are:

Undergraduate training

• to introduce the medical student to the principles of Family Medicine as embodied in clinical family practice, family medicine and practice management;
• to familiarise him/her with the principles of ethical conduct and medical ethics
• to guide him/her in the acceptance of a holistic approach towards patient care;
• to familiarise the student with the clinical treatment of general ailments and emergencies; and
• to familiarise the student with the four basic levels of clinical treatment, namely furtherance, preventive, curative and rehabilitative medicine.

Postgraduate training

• to provide family practitioners with career-based training through the development of their cognitive, perceptive and effective skills related to primary healthcare and based on the principles stated above. 

Services

• to provide extensive services to the community in the field of Family Medicine/Primary Care.

Research

• to do relevant research applicable to the discipline of Family Medicine with the aim to better services and reduce the incidence of disease in primary care. 

The Department of Family Medicine coordinates and supervises all medical services rendered in the district health complex of area DC 17 in the Free State. We render a comprehensive healthcare service adhering to primary healthcare principles, but also act as gatekeepers to the second and third care levels.

We take pride in the fact that we have a holistic approach to patient care and act as advocates for our patients.