A Three-Year Training Programme for Primary Health Care Physicians in Poland

A three-year training programme was developed and implemented by the Medical Centre of Postgraduate Education in Poland with the aim of improving the knowledge and skills of primary health care physicians working in the State Health Services' community centres. The programme creates several learning and self-assessment opportunities with the general principle of not distracting a doctor from his daily duties in a community health centre for more than one day a month. Preliminary assessment of the programme revealed its positive impact on both the health services system and primary health care physicians themselves. It increased health authorities' activity in creating new learning opportunities and doctors' motivation to learn. Self-assessment made by the first group of traineses who completed the three-year programme (results obtained by means of a questionnaire) revealed substantial increase in professional competence resulting from the participation in the programme.