Transfomation 2012 : "Competencies of Family Physicians in Primary Care"

will be held in Tirana on May 12-13th. The conference will continue to provide an annual opportunity for development of family medicine in Albania through interactive training of general and family physicians from all over the country. This year the conference will focus on the competency framework for family medicine of WONCA Europe and will provide opportunities through its plenaries and workshops to inspire and equip the participants to provide quality primary care for their patients and to further develop their professional and personal lives as family physicians.

The first regional Transformation was held on October 22-23, 2011 in Shkodra.

ABC Health Foundation was very pleased to sponsor this first, regional training in evidence-based family medicine.  Primary care doctors from all over the north of Albania and some parts of Kosova attended the two day continuing medical education meetings.

for more information ...

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'Transformation 2011'

 On the 28-29^th of May, ABC Health Foundation had the privilege of offering Transformation 2011, the 8^th annual Family Medicine conference for Albania.  ABC organized this 2-day conference with the support of the Ministry of Health, and in cooperation with the Department of Family Medicine of the University of Tirana Medical School, Partnerships in International Medical Education (PRIME); Hope Partnerships International (HPI), and World Vision Albania.

    The theme for Transformation 2011 was “Evidence-Based Family Medicine.”  The plenary sessions and practical seminars presented the concept and practice of evidence-based medicine to the physicians, and demonstrated how to apply this in the context of providing quality, primary health care.   The presenters of the main sessions and of the seminars were specialists in family medicine, with many years of teaching experience, from Albania, the United States, and Great Britain.

    The Minister of Health, Dr. Petrit Vasili, addressed the Transformation 2011 participants in the opening session where he emphasized the importance of this type of training for family doctors and commended the tradition established by the organizers of their conference, saying “it is in line with the reform efforts being made by the Ministry of Health to increase the quality of family medicine.” 

(Click here for more details of his remarks on the MOH web site.  Click return on your browser to return to this page.)

    The two-day event, held in the facilities of the European University of Tirana, provided continuing medical education with both knowledge and skills development to the approximately 125 general doctors and family doctors from all over Albania, with the goal of improving the quality of services delivered to each physician’s patients.  The conference was accredited by the National Center of Continuing Education for 12 credits, applicable toward the recertification of the doctors.

    Because of the growing need for ongoing education of family doctors and general physicians in primary care, ABC Health Foundation plans to repeat the training program Transformation 2011 in Shkoder on 22-23 of October.

    (Check back throughout the summer for more information.)

ABC Health Foundation wishes to thank the Ministry of Health, and each of  our other partners for their participation in this year's conference.

Report 2010:

'Transformation 2010' was a great success, both in May and October.

      ABC Health Foundation would like to say a special thanks to the Minister of Health, Dr. Petrit Vasili, for his participation in Transformation 2010 in May.

      We would also like to thank each of the general/family physicians from all over Albania for their attention and participation at the 29-30 May and the 22-23 October training weekends in Tirana.  It has been a privilege for us to serve them and their patients through the provision of Transformation 2010.

     To see a write up about this year's Maj 29-30 training weekend click on this reference to the Ministry of Health web site.

Overview of Transformation Conference:

    Since 2004, ABC Health Foundation and its partners Albanian Health Fund (AHF) and Family Medicine Education International (FMEI) in USA; Partnership in International Medical Education (PRIME) in UK and the Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tirana have provided the only annual forum on family medicine in Albania gathering around 150 general and family physicians all over Albania for a weekend conference ‘Transformation.’  Guest speakers have come from USA, UK, Kosova and Bosnja and Hercegovina.

The goals of the Transformation conference are to:

1. Encourage and equip general physicians to practice quality primary care based on the principles and practice of family medicine, whole-person care and the moral values of medicine.
2. Promote and facilitate life-long learning and professional development for primary healthcare professionals.

    Each of the annual Transformation conference aims to cover main principles of family medicine through plenary talks that promote a model of competent and compassionate care and a variety of interactive, hands-on seminars on common cases encountered in primary care.

Some of the themes covered during the Transformation 2004-2010 are:

• Package of basic services in primary care
• Chronic disease management
• Infectious diseases in primary care
• Role of general and family physicians in caring for different age-group
• The role, competencies and skills of family physicians
• The role of family physicians in health education and prevention
• Communication skills of family physicians
• The role of family physicians in palliative care
• Patients’ rights and issues of quality of care in primary care
• The importance of continual medical education for family physicians
• Beginnings and transformation of family medicine in the UK, USA, etc.