Program Overview

Programme: PGDip Family Medicine

Introduction

The Postgraduate Diploma in Family Medicine is a two-year part-time program offered by the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Pretoria. The program is designed to provide medical doctors with the knowledge, skills, and competencies required to practice family medicine.

Admission Requirements

• MBChB degree or an equivalent qualification.
• South African students must be registered as a medical doctor with the Health Professions Council of South Africa.
• International students must be registered as a medical doctor with the licensing authority in their country of origin and present acceptable documentary proof to this effect.
• The doctor should be:
  • Consulting ambulatory patients.
  • Providing first contact medical care.
  • Working as a medical generalist.

Programme Structure

The program consists of a modularized curriculum with a blended approach, including campus-based teaching, web-based teaching, and workplace-based learning.

Examinations and Pass Requirements

1. Assignments as prescribed by the head of department must be submitted for each of the eight modules. If a student does not achieve at least 50%, one resubmission is permitted for each module.
2. Workplace-based learning and assessment.
   • Learning in the workplace will be driven by peer learning and documented by means of a portfolio of learning.
   • The portfolio of learning would need to include:
     • Evidence of self-directed learning by means of six monthly learning plans and reflection.
     • Evidence of learning by means of ten observations per year.
     • Evidence of learning skills by use of a logbook.
3. Final assessment: An annual assessment of the learning documented in the portfolio by the Department of Family Medicine.

• A minimum final mark of 50% is required as a pass mark for each module.

National Exit Examination

There will be one national exit examination for the country offered by the College of Family Physicians. The portfolio should be part of the assessment, and the portfolio will give the student access to the national exit examination. Successful candidates will receive a Higher Diploma from the College as well as a Postgraduate Diploma from the University.

Pass with Distinction

An average of at least 75% in the modules and the portfolio is required to obtain the diploma with distinction.

Core Modules

• FFM 700: Family-oriented patient care
  • Credits: 15.00
  • Module content: Study of the family as the object of care; family systems theory; tools for family-oriented care; family life-cycle; ethics of treating families; family conference; the family and chronic illness; family violence and alcohol abuse in the family.
• FMD 700: Chronic diseases
  • Credits: 15.00
  • Module content: Study of diabetes mellitus, asthma, epilepsy, hypertension, cardiac failure, obesity, and chronic pain.
• FMF 700: Psychiatry
  • Credits: 15.00
  • Module content: Psychiatry in family practice, including study of depression, anxiety, suicide, the difficult adolescent, substance use and abuse, schizophrenia, dementia, and delirium.
• FMI 700: Infectious diseases
  • Credits: 15.00
  • Module content: Introduction; study of contagious disease important to the traveler; contagious diseases in the tropical regions; viral illnesses in children; fever of unknown origin; sexually transmitted diseases; haemorrhagic fever; infective diarrhea; meningitis; leprosy; HIV/Aids; tuberculosis; rabies; school attendance and infectious diseases; community-acquired pneumonia (CAP); acute virus hepatitis; rational use of antibiotics and other exogenous infections.
• FMX 700: Practice management
  • Credits: 15.00
  • Module content: Study of human resource management; financial management; auditing of management and services management. The study of leadership and clinical governance for clinical primary care. The study of learning in primary care teams.
• HAK 700: Philosophy and principles of family medicine
  • Credits: 15.00
  • Module content: Study of the origins and emergence of Family Medicine. Study of the principles of Family Medicine. Study of the consultation. Study of patient-centred medicine, communication, and the doctor-patient relationship. Study of medical ethics.
• PCC 700: Clinical primary care
  • Credits: 15.00
  • Module content: Study of primary care over the whole quadruple burden of disease (HIV/AIDS, TB, maternal and child care, non-communicable diseases, trauma, and violence) and in terms of the morbidity profile of primary care in South Africa.
• PCP 700: Community-orientated primary care
  • Credits: 15.00
  • Module content: Study of the concept of community-orientated primary care. Study of the five principles of community-orientated primary care; Local health and institutional analysis, comprehensive care, equity, practice with science, and service integration around users. A practical guide to doing community-orientated primary care.

Minimum Credits

The minimum credits required for the completion of the program is 120.