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Background: Similar to other countries, Departments of Family Medicine in the former Yugoslavia had to transition from face-to-face to distance education during COVID-19., Objectives: To elucidate obstacles and facilitators of the transition from face-to-face to distance education., Methods: A cross-sectional, multicentre, qualitative study design was used to analyse nine open-ended questions from an online survey using inductive thematic analysis. The questionnaire was distributed to 21 medical schools, inviting them to involve at least two teachers/students/trainees. Data were collected between December 2021 and March 2022., Results: In 17 medical schools, 23 students, 54 trainees and 40 teachers participated. The following themes were identified: facilitators and barriers of transition, innovations for enhancing distance education, convenience of distance education, classical teaching for better communication, the future of distance education, reaching learning outcomes and experience of online assessment. Innovations referred mainly to new online technologies for interactive education and communication. Distance education allowed for greater flexibility in scheduling and self-directed learning; however, participants felt that classical education allowed better communication and practical learning. Teachers believed knowledge-related learning outcomes could be achieved through distance education but not teaching clinical skills. Participants anticipated a future where a combination of teaching methods is used., Conclusion: The transition to distance education was made possible thanks to its flexible scheduling, innovative tools and possibility of self-directed learning. However, face-to-face education was considered preferable for fostering interpersonal relations and teaching clinical skills. Educators should strive to strike a balance between innovative approaches and the preservation of personal experiences.

Background: The countries of the former Yugoslavia have health and education systems with the same tradition but these have changed over the years. Little is known about how family medicine teaching transitioned from face-to-face to distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic., Objectives: to investigate student/teacher experience in transitioning from face-to-face to distance education., Methods: A cross-sectional, online survey was conducted among 21 medical schools of the former Yugoslavia between December 2021 and March 2022. Under/postgraduate teachers and students who taught/studied family medicine during the academic year 2020/2021 were invited to participate. Of 31 questions for students and 35 for teachers, all but nine open questions were analysed using descriptive statistics., Results: Seventeen of 21 medical schools contributed data involving 117 participants representing all countries of the former Yugoslavia. At the beginning of the pandemic, 30%, 26% and 15% of teachers, students and trainees, respectively, received formal preparation in distance education. Of these, 92% of teachers and 58% of students/trainees felt they were not adequately prepared. Synchronous teaching was the main method used, with a third using hybrid methods. All participants were least confident about online assessment. More than 75% of respondents agreed that lectures could be kept online, not patient consultations or practical skills' classes., Conclusion: Teachers used various old and new methods to provide learning opportunities despite COVID-19 constraints. Effective technology-based strategies are essential to ensure assessment integrity and enhance the learning environment.

Background: Most patients that commit suicide consult their GPs before their death. This topic is often surrounded by secrecy and associated with guilt and shame. There is a lack of knowledge about support for GPs after patient suicide., Objectives: To identify the widest range of Slovenian GPs' problems and needs in connection with patient suicide, and, based on the findings of the study, to prepare ways to assist GPs after patient suicide., Methods: Semi-structured interviews were held with GPs that had experienced a patient's suicide during their professional career until saturation was reached. The interview guide was piloted. Twenty-two in-depth interviews were carried out between April 2012 and February 2013. Transcripts were coded and thematically analysed using qualitative content analysis., Results: Participating GPs suggested possible forms of support, most frequently individual consultation with a psychologist or a psychiatrist, in person, by phone, or via e-mail. Balint groups, group consultations and various workshops on suicide or depression would be a preferable form of support. Some GPs perceived critical incident review as an attempt to blame them, whereas others saw it as an opportunity for support. A group of peers that could discuss professional dilemmas in which more experienced GPs would help younger GPs would be helpful., Conclusion: Slovenian GPs did not have any formal support system at the time of the research, but they would appreciate such a possibility.

Family medicine teachers require specific educational skills. A framework for their professional development is essential for future development of the discipline in Europe. EURACT developed a framework on educational expertise, and subsequently applied it in a curriculum of teaching-skills courses of various levels. The aim of this article is to describe the development of the teaching framework, and of an international three-level course programme for 'teaching-the-teachers'. Furthermore, we describe our experiences and lessons learned, in particular with regard to the level-three programme for proficient teachers, which was new. We conclude that it is possible to develop a theoretical framework of family medicine teaching expertise and to apply it in an international high-level educational programme for future experts in family medicine education. Research evidence of the usefulness of this approach is needed, and the threats for its further development into a sustainable activity are its high teacher/student ratio associated with relatively high costs and difficulties in recruiting suitable participants.

Background: Due to the importance of family medicine and a relative shortage of doctors in this discipline, it is important to know how the decision to choose a career in this field is made., Objective: Since this decision is closely linked to students' attitudes towards family medicine, we were interested in identifying those attitudes that predict intended career choice in family medicine., Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed among 316 final-year medical students of the Ljubljana Medical Faculty in Slovenia. The students filled out a 164-item questionnaire, developed based on the European definition of family medicine and the EURACT Educational Agenda, using a seven-point Likert scale containing attitudes towards family medicine. The students also recorded their interest in family medicine on a five-point Likert scale. Attitudes were selected using a feature selection procedure with artificial neural networks that best differentiated between students who are likely and students who are unlikely to become family physicians., Results: Thirty-one out of 164 attitudes predict a career in family medicine, with a classification accuracy of at least 85%. Predictors of intended career choice in family medicine are related to three categories: understanding of the discipline, working in a coherent health care system and person-centredness. The most important predictor is an appreciation of a long-term doctor-patient relationship., Conclusion: Students whose intended career choice is family medicine differ from other students in having more positive attitudes towards family physicians' competences and towards characteristics of family medicine and primary care.

Background: The family physician's task in prevention is not only an assessment of patients' health risks but also counselling individual patients., Aim: Aim of this primary care based study was to find how patients' characteristics relate to their readiness to change., Methods: This multinational cross-sectional survey was conducted in primary care in 22 European countries, coordinated by EUROPREV. Consecutive attenders from randomly selected family practices answered a questionnaire about attitudes towards prevention and about lifestyle., Results: The questionnaire was answered by 7947 patients in 224 primary care practices in 22 European countries. Smoking was reported by 828 women (23.2%) versus 1238 (32.57%) men, unhealthy diet by 637 (11.6%) women versus 830 men (17.62%), risky alcohol consumption by 348 women (8.19%) versus 1009 men (23.07%) and the lack of physical activity by 617 women (12.68%) versus 614 men (16.45%). The need for change was declared by 432 (31.8%) of 1357 risky drinkers, 612 (29.6%) of 2066 smokers, 1210 (82.4%) of 1467 patients with unhealthy diet and by 2456 (30.9%) of all participants, 1231 of them were not physically active at all. Among patients with unhealthy dietary habits, 681 (56.3%) were confident of successfully changing their behaviour, among physically inactive it was 1561 (63.6 %), among smokers 284 (46.4%), and among risky drinkers 214 (49.5%)., Conclusion: More likely to be ready to change unhealthy lifestyles are frequent attenders, European Union citizens, women and patients under 50 years of age.

This article includes a personal history of a family physician working in Ukraine. In June 2012, Pavlo Kolesnyk, Ukrainian Assistant Professor and a Family Doctor was awarded the second Montegute Scholar grant and had the chance to attend the Wonca Europe Conference 2012 in Vienna. In many developed countries, family medicine is already well established. In Ukraine, which has the legacy of a socialist health care system the implementation of the discipline started only at the end of the last century. The changes in the health care system were of greater importance in primary care and family medicine. It gave greater decentralization of the health care system and supported investment in primary care. This article describes the development of family medicine in undergraduate and postgraduate education. Whilst family medicine is officially a priority of health care policy, there is still a long process ahead. Family medicine needs financial support from the government and doctor's wages have to be increased, to prevent this branch of medicine being unpopular among graduating medical students.

After decades of developing family medicine, one can see that it has been successful in defining its principles and in proving the importance of its contribution using quantitative measures of quality that are prevailing today. But if family medicine needs to make a real contribution to society, it needs not to forget that using only rationalistic approach is not enough to define its quality and that caring for a fellow being is as important as science. Our contribution to changing the world for the better should be in constantly reminding that personal care is essential for every doctor regardless the speciality. This largely neglected feature of medicine can be best taught and researched in the context of family medicine, because it represents the very essence of the discipline. This implies that we must often take a different path from other disciplines when we address the issues of policy, research and education and use every opportunity to stress the importance of personal care.