Last week, from 25-27 September, a group of young family medics gathered in Turin, Italy prior to the 6th VdGM Forum to discuss and develop in quality improvement through a three day training programme, facilitated by experts from the EQuiP network. This is the first collaborative summer school between VdGM and EQuiP, and we hope it will be the first of many.
Quality improvement (QI) has a high priority in health care and is an important part of everyday work in general practice and family medicine. However, education on quality improvement is scarce in many countries, and young physicians often don’t get enough competencies to implement it in practice. EQuiP and VdGM are wanting to fill this gap! Our collaboration aims to help to support and catalyse QI training of researchers, trainees and family physicians. We hope to increase knowledge about QI, allow the sharing of ideas and support participants to initiate or enhance a quality improvement project.
We were a small but diverse group of participants drawn from across Europe with a range of experience and expertise in quality, gathering to share ideas and develop practical skills to implement change in their own setting. The highly interactive program alternates lectures, small group work, case studies, feedback, individual work and workshops. We hope this and subsequent training will prove a key way to develop a cohort of young family medics with both the passion and skills to improve care in their countries. If you are a family medic in training, or a recently-qualified family medic with an interest in quality improvement, check out EQuiP’s website for more opportunities to develop your skills and join similar training opportunities.