Course overview: Our aim is to provide students with the necessary knowledge and skills about the principles and procedures for the delivery of first-contact care to patients in the health system (primary health care, PHC).

Course content: Issues related to patient centered care, continuity of care, coordination of services, and comprehensive health care. Patient-centered approach. Consultation. Breaking bad news. Announcing death. Searching for evidence and implementing guidelines on the management of patients with acute or chronic illness. Primary prevention for adolescents and adults. Diagnosis in PHC, related evidence, and diagnostic errors. Comprehensive assessment and care for the elderly in PHC. Palliative care. Management of patients with multiple medications in PHC; assessing and improving compliance. Implementing guidelines for the management of patients with multiple morbidity in PHC.

Teaching method and expected outcomes: The course includes both problem-based learning lectures and students’ placement in a clinical setting. Settings may include either the emergency department of the University Hospital in Ioannina or, after student’s request, a PHC setting in Greece or abroad. During their placement in a clinical setting (either in the University Hospital emergency department or in PHC), students collaborate with faculty members and health care professionals who work in these settings, acquire knowledge and participate in everyday clinical practice. After the completion of the course, students are expected to understand General Medicine and PHC principles, and use knowledge from diverse fields in order to suggest evidence-based diagnostic processes and therapeutic strategies for common problems in General Medicine and PHC.

Hours of training per student: 126

Year of education : 6th

ECTS: 4