Search

The Medical Specialties council of the Royal Dutch medical association (CGS) has published an innovative perspective on the future landscape of specialisms in medicine. The proposal introduces generalism as the standard of training and professional practice, which represents a fundamental change from the current system. The envisioned new structure would consist of a number of broad core specialisms, emphasizing generalist knowledge and skills, and additional subspecialties for highly complex care. This is expected to enhance healthcare efficiency and improve patient treatment. The plan meets changing healthcare needs and accommodates the preference of young doctors regarding their residency training and careers.The CGS wants to further explore the new perspective with all parties involved.

It is often thought that acute ear discharge as a presenting symptom of acute otitis media (AOM) means that the infection is petering out. However, children with AOM presenting with ear discharge due to a spontaneous perforation of the eardrum (AOMd) have a poorer prognosis (i.e. higher rates of ear pain and/or fever at 3-7 days) than those without ear discharge. In this article we emphasize the importance of physical examination and early treatment of children and adults who present with acute ear discharge.

The introduction of the CanMEDS method to qualify training and ongoing education for healthcare providers in terms of competencies has provided a clear framework for medical schools' curricula. Different roles are outlined, and one of these is health advocacy. Physicians are accountable to society to use their knowledge and expertise to improve health. Even before the introduction of CanMEDS, physicians took responsibility for improving health by tackling issues in society that negatively affected the health of many; one obvious example is the provision of clean water and sewage systems to prevent epidemics of infectious diseases such as cholera. The role of the health advocate is now addressed within medical education in graduate and postgraduate medical training curricula. If they are to be really effective, trainers should provide proper role models on how to be a health advocate; even though each doctor does not have to become a politician to change the world, all doctors should look further than the individual patient in their surgery.